It’s no secret that a majority of customers now browse and shop on their mobile devices.  While many businesses have mobile ads running, there are some key ways to think about these channels that should enlighten them as to why mobile advertising is more important than ever.

Many people still use desktops and laptops every day.  However, most of these users also keep their mobile devices by their side the entire time.  When they are served an ad on a desktop or laptop, there is definitely a “third party” effect where the ad is in a way intruding on the user’s experience.  This makes the ad a little bit easier to ignore.  However, most people view their mobile devices as a bit more “personal” than their desktops and laptops.  Thus, when a user is served up mobile advertising, theoretically there is a slight increase in the chance that they will pay attention.  The shopper sees the mobile ad as slightly more legitimate in this fashion - they are more “familiar” with the messaging they receive via the devices they view as more personal.

Generally, people are easily distracted from advertising.  Often times, someone that works on a laptop or desktop all day will periodically check their mobile devices.  However, people will generally not stop looking at their mobile device to check their laptop or desktop.  Thus, mobile advertising should earn more of a user’s focus than that shown on a “regular” computer.  While people have trouble concentrating on a desktop or laptop in favor of their phone or tablet, the reverse is generally not true.

Shoppers generally feel more familiarity and focus with their mobile devices than their desktops or laptops.  What other psychological benefits of mobile advertising can you think of?

It’s no secret that a majority of customers now browse and shop on their mobile devices.  While many businesses have mobile ads running, there are some key ways to think about these channels that should enlighten them as to why mobile advertising is more important than ever.

Many people still use desktops and laptops every day.  However, most of these users also keep their mobile devices by their side the entire time.  When they are served an ad on a desktop or laptop, there is definitely a “third party” effect where the ad is in a way intruding on the user’s experience.  This makes the ad a little bit easier to ignore.  However, most people view their mobile devices as a bit more “personal” than their desktops and laptops.  Thus, when a user is served up mobile advertising, theoretically there is a slight increase in the chance that they will pay attention.  The shopper sees the mobile ad as slightly more legitimate in this fashion - they are more “familiar” with the messaging they receive via the devices they view as more personal.

Generally, people are easily distracted from advertising.  Often times, someone that works on a laptop or desktop all day will periodically check their mobile devices.  However, people will generally not stop looking at their mobile device to check their laptop or desktop.  Thus, mobile advertising should earn more of a user’s focus than that shown on a “regular” computer.  While people have trouble concentrating on a desktop or laptop in favor of their phone or tablet, the reverse is generally not true.

Shoppers generally feel more familiarity and focus with their mobile devices than their desktops or laptops.  What other psychological benefits of mobile advertising can you think of?

With all the focus on the tactic of creating new content, many websites are starting to see real gains in SEO ranking.  However, this may come at a cost of actual customers!  Most of the text on a site is likely never read by shoppers, as people tend to digitally skim rather than actually read content word for word.

In a quest to make a website SEO-friendly, one should not allow pages to become overly verbose.  When it comes to customers actually buying things, they want the information quickly and easily.  Large graphics, videos, and other things that have little to do with SEO-friendly text content often are what sells a client.

Seeing as internet shoppers lack the time to slowly read information on a site, they will instead digitally skim the data on a page.  Therefore, when creating pages that are designed for client interaction, the focus should be on creating the best shopping experience.

SEO friendly text doesn't need to be at odds with the shopping habit of clients who digitally skim information.  Bullet points are a great way to quickly convey information that both search engines and pressed-for-time shoppers can pick up.  Lists in general help clients get the facts quickly without having to wade through tons of location and keyword rich text.

SEO optimization and new content is great for a website.  However, a balance must be struck between what resonates with customers and what resonates with search engines. How are you all appealing to both search engines and real live readers?

With all the focus on the tactic of creating new content, many websites are starting to see real gains in SEO ranking.  However, this may come at a cost of actual customers!  Most of the text on a site is likely never read by shoppers, as people tend to digitally skim rather than actually read content word for word.

In a quest to make a website SEO-friendly, one should not allow pages to become overly verbose.  When it comes to customers actually buying things, they want the information quickly and easily.  Large graphics, videos, and other things that have little to do with SEO-friendly text content often are what sells a client.

Seeing as internet shoppers lack the time to slowly read information on a site, they will instead digitally skim the data on a page.  Therefore, when creating pages that are designed for client interaction, the focus should be on creating the best shopping experience.

SEO friendly text doesn't need to be at odds with the shopping habit of clients who digitally skim information.  Bullet points are a great way to quickly convey information that both search engines and pressed-for-time shoppers can pick up.  Lists in general help clients get the facts quickly without having to wade through tons of location and keyword rich text.

SEO optimization and new content is great for a website.  However, a balance must be struck between what resonates with customers and what resonates with search engines. How are you all appealing to both search engines and real live readers?

In the pay-per-click world, value is derived from how inexpensively a lead can be acquired.  Many times, a low cost-per-click combined with a high conversion rate can indicate a winning formula.  However, sometimes it can seem like a campaign is averaging a high cost-per-click.   There are many factors that affect this cost, but the two easiest to understand and control are competition and quality score.

Competition refers to how many other advertisers in a similar industry are bidding on the same keywords.  If an advertiser is experiencing a high cost-per-click on a particular keyword, all other things being equal, it could be an issue of the keyword being very popular among local advertisers.  If a keyword search yields a ton of ads on the SERP (search engine results page), then it is obvious that there are many others bidding on the same terms, driving the cost up.  At this point, the advertiser should consider if it is worth it to pay the high cost-per-click.   If the ROI doesn't add up, it may be time to stop bidding on that keyword or choose a similar keyword with less competition.

Quality score has a number of components, but typically the main ingredients are relevancy of keywords, ads and landing pages along with bid.  If a high cost-per-click is occurring on an otherwise low competition keyword, an advertiser should review their quality score on the keyword to determine if an improvement could yield a lower price.  Better keyword grouping and more relevant ads and landing pages can make your ads more relevant in Google's eyes, which means lower rates!  Also, more relevant ads generally result in higher click-through rates, which also affect quality score in a positive way (historical CTR and conversion rates are both factors).

Overall, there are several reasons why a keyword might be suffering from a high cost-per-click, but the two easiest to address might just be competition and quality score.  What are some ways you all use to lower your CPC's?

In the pay-per-click world, value is derived from how inexpensively a lead can be acquired.  Many times, a low cost-per-click combined with a high conversion rate can indicate a winning formula.  However, sometimes it can seem like a campaign is averaging a high cost-per-click.   There are many factors that affect this cost, but the two easiest to understand and control are competition and quality score.

Competition refers to how many other advertisers in a similar industry are bidding on the same keywords.  If an advertiser is experiencing a high cost-per-click on a particular keyword, all other things being equal, it could be an issue of the keyword being very popular among local advertisers.  If a keyword search yields a ton of ads on the SERP (search engine results page), then it is obvious that there are many others bidding on the same terms, driving the cost up.  At this point, the advertiser should consider if it is worth it to pay the high cost-per-click.   If the ROI doesn't add up, it may be time to stop bidding on that keyword or choose a similar keyword with less competition.

Quality score has a number of components, but typically the main ingredients are relevancy of keywords, ads and landing pages along with bid.  If a high cost-per-click is occurring on an otherwise low competition keyword, an advertiser should review their quality score on the keyword to determine if an improvement could yield a lower price.  Better keyword grouping and more relevant ads and landing pages can make your ads more relevant in Google's eyes, which means lower rates!  Also, more relevant ads generally result in higher click-through rates, which also affect quality score in a positive way (historical CTR and conversion rates are both factors).

Overall, there are several reasons why a keyword might be suffering from a high cost-per-click, but the two easiest to address might just be competition and quality score.  What are some ways you all use to lower your CPC's?

Dealers often have questions about SEM campaigns they are running.  Rightfully so, as SEM doesn't come cheaply, and unlike a newspaper ad or mailer, paid search isn't tangible.  Often times, the term "quality score" is thrown around to describe why a cost-per-click might be high or low.  It all comes down to relevance.

The standard components that seem to make up the bidding system used by SEM utilities like Google AdWords are comprised of things like landing page content relevance, expected click-thru rate, historical click-thru rate, ad content relevance, bid, and competitor bids.  While all these are fine technical terms that marketers understand, to the average business owner these might just be buzzwords that don't explain why PPC advertising costs what it does.

In order to put SEM relevance into perspective - it all comes down to relevancy addiction.  These days, people know what they want and they just need to know where to get it.  Thus, most people are impatient with getting answers or results, which Google is very aware of.  Google understands that if it provides the most relevant results to demanding consumers, it leads to the best user experience, driving consumers back over and over and over again.  That's why if people have a question today, they Google it!

Therefore, when a user is searching on Google, Google is trying to show the best and most relevant results, even in it's advertising network.  The pricing of SEM is therefore less when the keywords, ads and landing pages used in an ad group are all tied together in such a way that they provide an extremely useful and relevant result for a searcher.  If someone searching has a good experience with a site found via clicking on an SEM ad, Google rewards that with lower overall pricing and more prominence in search results.

If a dealer is struggling with high cost-per-click, low click-thru rates and poor conversion, often times the landing pages and ads need to be looked at to raise this relevance.  How are you all designing your campaigns for optimal relevance?

Dealers often have questions about SEM campaigns they are running.  Rightfully so, as SEM doesn't come cheaply, and unlike a newspaper ad or mailer, paid search isn't tangible.  Often times, the term "quality score" is thrown around to describe why a cost-per-click might be high or low.  It all comes down to relevance.

The standard components that seem to make up the bidding system used by SEM utilities like Google AdWords are comprised of things like landing page content relevance, expected click-thru rate, historical click-thru rate, ad content relevance, bid, and competitor bids.  While all these are fine technical terms that marketers understand, to the average business owner these might just be buzzwords that don't explain why PPC advertising costs what it does.

In order to put SEM relevance into perspective - it all comes down to relevancy addiction.  These days, people know what they want and they just need to know where to get it.  Thus, most people are impatient with getting answers or results, which Google is very aware of.  Google understands that if it provides the most relevant results to demanding consumers, it leads to the best user experience, driving consumers back over and over and over again.  That's why if people have a question today, they Google it!

Therefore, when a user is searching on Google, Google is trying to show the best and most relevant results, even in it's advertising network.  The pricing of SEM is therefore less when the keywords, ads and landing pages used in an ad group are all tied together in such a way that they provide an extremely useful and relevant result for a searcher.  If someone searching has a good experience with a site found via clicking on an SEM ad, Google rewards that with lower overall pricing and more prominence in search results.

If a dealer is struggling with high cost-per-click, low click-thru rates and poor conversion, often times the landing pages and ads need to be looked at to raise this relevance.  How are you all designing your campaigns for optimal relevance?

Vehicle specials and sales have long been a means of driving traffic into a dealership.  Before the days of the internet, a blowout special in a newspaper advertisement or mailer could bring in loads of foot traffic.  Today, most dealerships make do with a specials web page, and there are a few basic tips that can help it be more effective at capturing customers.

Linking vehicle specials from featured images on a dealer site’s homepage is one of the most commonly used methods to get customers over to a specials page on the website.  Many times, there is an image slider featuring new cars and current promotions.  Dealerships should definitely keep this practice of showing their best deals first.

Similarly, there are also benefits to linking to vehicle specials in the main site navigation.  SEO for the specials page should see a lift, as well as a traffic increase from making it easier to navigate to the page.  If specials pages aren't being linked to from a site menu, that may be the first place a dealer wants to concentrate on in order to get their promotions viewed more often.

Finally, if vehicle specials are being kept on a "specials page" rather than being shown right on VDPs or SRPs, those specials should contain calls to action that link to the related inventory.  That way a potential shopper can be funneled from the special, to inventory, to the specific vehicle they want, to submitting a lead.  If everything is in order and looks trustworthy all along this funnel, the shopper is more likely to act as a zero moment client.

The above are simple, basic ways that vehicle specials can be promoted internally.  Where are you all listing your specials?

Vehicle specials and sales have long been a means of driving traffic into a dealership.  Before the days of the internet, a blowout special in a newspaper advertisement or mailer could bring in loads of foot traffic.  Today, most dealerships make do with a specials web page, and there are a few basic tips that can help it be more effective at capturing customers.

Linking vehicle specials from featured images on a dealer site’s homepage is one of the most commonly used methods to get customers over to a specials page on the website.  Many times, there is an image slider featuring new cars and current promotions.  Dealerships should definitely keep this practice of showing their best deals first.

Similarly, there are also benefits to linking to vehicle specials in the main site navigation.  SEO for the specials page should see a lift, as well as a traffic increase from making it easier to navigate to the page.  If specials pages aren't being linked to from a site menu, that may be the first place a dealer wants to concentrate on in order to get their promotions viewed more often.

Finally, if vehicle specials are being kept on a "specials page" rather than being shown right on VDPs or SRPs, those specials should contain calls to action that link to the related inventory.  That way a potential shopper can be funneled from the special, to inventory, to the specific vehicle they want, to submitting a lead.  If everything is in order and looks trustworthy all along this funnel, the shopper is more likely to act as a zero moment client.

The above are simple, basic ways that vehicle specials can be promoted internally.  Where are you all listing your specials?