Yahoo’s ad platform is migrating to Adcenter. If you have never had a paid campaign with Bing, it is time to learn. Whether you are a paid advertiser on Yahoo, or have been considering a campaign with Bing, now is a great time to get acquainted with MSN Adcenter. As part of their educational outreach, Microsoft hosts free webinars.
Today I attended a webinar designed to help new users get the greatest benefit from their ad Center account. My takeaway and some tips to set up and maximize your campaign ....for full post
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Google Places and Tags Holiday Guide - Google Small Business
As the holidays approach, here are five quick and easy ways Google Places can help your business reach customers. Create a coupon highlighting holiday specials: Are you offering a package of products or services to your customers this holiday season? Let people know by creating a coupon for your special on your Place page. Coupons are also a great way to track how many customers found you through Google Places. For more details on creating a coupon, and other Holiday Online Marketing tips check out the full article post:
Google Places and Tags Holiday Guide - Google Small Business
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Online Coupon Sites
In case you haven’t heard there is a recession and both online and social networks have influenced how consumers interact with merchants. Here is a round up of some interesting trends in online coupons and deal promotions that benefit both the local merchant + consumer.
GroupOn -They call it "collective buying power!" A city guide promoting deals and targeting avid consumers of social media. Groupon features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, eat, and buy in a variety of cities. The key to snagging the deal is getting a certain of number of people to also opt in for it – great tool to nudge your friends and spread the word ( viral). By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, Groupon get discounts you won't find anywhere else. They promote their website ( display ads) which is good as they are getting the word out to consumers. Definitely worth checking out! No monetary upfront cost for businesses.
Retailmenot- national online promotional codes for major retailer websites. I always go to Retailmenot before I buy anything online. They also offer an integrated search for local coupons by zipcode.
Living Social promotes themselves as connecting customers to cool places and things. They offer deeply discounted deals to the best places in your city! This is another major metro -city deal website – but they run deals in smaller markets like Austin, Raleigh in addition to the NYC, Chicago. Living Social offers one fantastic deal every day with step discounts at local restaurants, bars, spas, theaters, and more. Sign up for their Daily Deal Email- Purchase a deal- and use a widget to Share a Deal with a friend. A minimum number of consumers need to opt in for the deal within a given time frame or the deal is lost. Businesses benefit from the partnership and there is no upfront advertising cost for the merchant.
KGB Deals USA and EU footprint labels themselves as Shopping 3.0: Save 50-90% on all the things you love to do, eat, wear and enjoy your city. Similar to Groupon a minimum number of consumers need to opt in to secure the special deal. Consumers can sign up to receive a KGB email alerts . An example of deal on their website: $29 for $70 worth of dog grooming, boarding and daycare services- sweet!
More sites:
Yipit .com aggregates and recommends local daily deals from some of the sites mentioned above.
Valpak.com
Merchant Circle (free to upload coupon, after creating a merchant profile)
Citysearch (with a paid upgrade)
Many local merchants are now using Twitter and Facebook, and they use this free social media tool to offer discounts. If you have a favorite retailer chec out their page for special deals.
Links
http://www.groupon.com/
http://printable.retailmenot.com/
http://www.kgbdeals.com/
http://livingsocial.com/
Restaurant Marketing Online Coupons to read review
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Specialty Online Marketing and Alternative PPC Advertising
What is:
Contextual. Advertising – the targeting of relevant websites based on the page's content, keywords. • Fully transparent: know exactly where your ads will run on a specific site.
Ad Network – a method of purchasing ads across a select group of sites. Ad networks can be specialized based on demographics and by interest (contextual)
Google is the leader in search. Within Google you can target search results or the content network. A content network allows your ads to run across relevant “partner sites” content vs. Google search you are targeting search engine keyword results.
Placing ads on sites that reach your niche may cost less and deliver qualified traffic to your site. You can get a campaign running for as little as $100 on some specialty websites. Most offer pricing on Pay per Click, Cost Per Thousand or provide retailers with Coupon, Online Sponsorship, and Email Marketing to their database in that coveted niche.
As a former PPC Ad Sales Consultant at Citysearch I can attest to the power of local niche marketing for specific interests. Restaurants, Bars, Nightlife did extremely well on Citysearch which is primarily used by consumers to obtain user reviews, coupons, video, directions and trusted content. Advertisers paid on a CPC to have their enhanced business profiles displayed on Citysearch for keyword and neighborhood searches.
If you are looking for alternatives to search engine traffic or want to be more “engaged” with your prospective customer here's a idea list of sites that offer alternative PPC, banner, email marketing programs and some with local targeting by city:
Local Spa & Beauty Merchants
Spafinder, Spa Week , Pretty City, Citysearch / Spa, SPA-NYC.COM
Travel Business
Travel Zoo, SmarterTravel, AOL Travel , Luxury Link
Medical
Web MD, Health Grades, Good Health Network
Business & Finance Verticals
Marchex PPC Contextual, Business.com, NY Times PPC
Local Living
Yelp, Citysearch ,Superpages, Openlist ( Marchex)
Green Marketing
Sustain Lane Green Ad network, Goodsense
There are plenty of sites to choose from, such as individual sites or ad networks that target diffferent consumer interests.
You know your customer best – what specialty sites and newsletter do they opt-in or use? For a restaurant does your customers use Zagats.com, Menupages or Citysearch to decide on a place to eat? Take their pulse. Then fish in that pond. Sometimes a smaller pond may yield interesting results.
Contextual. Advertising – the targeting of relevant websites based on the page's content, keywords. • Fully transparent: know exactly where your ads will run on a specific site.
Ad Network – a method of purchasing ads across a select group of sites. Ad networks can be specialized based on demographics and by interest (contextual)
Google is the leader in search. Within Google you can target search results or the content network. A content network allows your ads to run across relevant “partner sites” content vs. Google search you are targeting search engine keyword results.
Placing ads on sites that reach your niche may cost less and deliver qualified traffic to your site. You can get a campaign running for as little as $100 on some specialty websites. Most offer pricing on Pay per Click, Cost Per Thousand or provide retailers with Coupon, Online Sponsorship, and Email Marketing to their database in that coveted niche.
As a former PPC Ad Sales Consultant at Citysearch I can attest to the power of local niche marketing for specific interests. Restaurants, Bars, Nightlife did extremely well on Citysearch which is primarily used by consumers to obtain user reviews, coupons, video, directions and trusted content. Advertisers paid on a CPC to have their enhanced business profiles displayed on Citysearch for keyword and neighborhood searches.
If you are looking for alternatives to search engine traffic or want to be more “engaged” with your prospective customer here's a idea list of sites that offer alternative PPC, banner, email marketing programs and some with local targeting by city:
Local Spa & Beauty Merchants
Spafinder, Spa Week , Pretty City, Citysearch / Spa, SPA-NYC.COM
Travel Business
Travel Zoo, SmarterTravel, AOL Travel , Luxury Link
Medical
Web MD, Health Grades, Good Health Network
Business & Finance Verticals
Marchex PPC Contextual, Business.com, NY Times PPC
Local Living
Yelp, Citysearch ,Superpages, Openlist ( Marchex)
Green Marketing
Sustain Lane Green Ad network, Goodsense
There are plenty of sites to choose from, such as individual sites or ad networks that target diffferent consumer interests.
You know your customer best – what specialty sites and newsletter do they opt-in or use? For a restaurant does your customers use Zagats.com, Menupages or Citysearch to decide on a place to eat? Take their pulse. Then fish in that pond. Sometimes a smaller pond may yield interesting results.
Friday, March 12, 2010
New Custom Design Tools for Blogger Users
This week Google began testing a Blogger layout tool that allows people to customize the look of their blog. For those bloggers that do not use wordpress or understand wordpress.org plug-ins this is a nice new feature. .Check out a preview on Bloggers You Tube Channel
The templates tool supports professional designs, prebuilt templates and a color control to alter the blog's palette of colors. Those familiar with CSS and HTML will find the ability to integrate stock photos and custom background scenes, too. There are 15 templates, hundreds of stock images , custom colors, fonts and blog layouts. Google has made the Blogger Template Designer available through Blogger in Draft, Blogger's test lab, also known to developers as a sandbox or test bed.
Note-Template Designer does not support Internet Explorer 6
The templates tool supports professional designs, prebuilt templates and a color control to alter the blog's palette of colors. Those familiar with CSS and HTML will find the ability to integrate stock photos and custom background scenes, too. There are 15 templates, hundreds of stock images , custom colors, fonts and blog layouts. Google has made the Blogger Template Designer available through Blogger in Draft, Blogger's test lab, also known to developers as a sandbox or test bed.
Note-Template Designer does not support Internet Explorer 6
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Nice Wordpress Theme
I attended a free webinar today hosted by Adria Richards (Wordcamp speaker & CEO of Freshworkshops) on Selecting a Wordpress Theme. The hour long webinar was basic. I am in the 1st steps of setting up my Wordpress blog. Everyone on the webinar was new to Wordpress- all Blogger users, so non-techies will feel comfortable with the content.
My takeaway: there are 3 ways to get your word press theme up and running
Free Themes. On Wordpress.com / Wordpress.org. Free is great and does not mean sub-par. Expect common designs and ease of use. Downside on free, there will be no support services for the technically challenged and if you set up thru wordpress.com you are limited to about 70 templates, no plug ins, and limited on analytics.
Commercial Themes- if you prefer some support or different design options there are many providers that sell templates. Expect to pay $ 30- 200. The upside of buying a Wordpress theme: may have support services from the designer when it comes to installing and customizing. There are trillions of templates - too many for me to digest. It was recommended to check out www.welovewp.com for some design ideas.
Custom- looking for a unique design and have bucks to put into the project ( I didn’t pay much attention to this option as most of my clients & I do not have the budget luxury )
One question that orginally perplexed me was the difference between Wordpress.com vs. .org. Wordpress.com has limited templates (approx. 70), no plug-in but requires no installation. So if you are technology challenged or want a blog template for personal use, Wordpress.com may be for you. Wordpress.org is preferred by designers and webmasters since you can edit codes, upload your theme, install plug-in bells and whistles but you will need some technical ability to install it on your server. Cons- you are responsible for preventing spam, backing up, installing newer versions and should have some technical interest to handle these housekeeping issues.
What I did learn today, certain servers are more Wordpress friendly. This was good to find out before I started the process. I love learning new facts!!
A lot of handy links were provided by the Freshworkshops moderator – this one has a lot of detailed information http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org
So now I know I will need to adjust my server and go with wordpress.org….next step installing ….stay tunes.
My takeaway: there are 3 ways to get your word press theme up and running
Free Themes. On Wordpress.com / Wordpress.org. Free is great and does not mean sub-par. Expect common designs and ease of use. Downside on free, there will be no support services for the technically challenged and if you set up thru wordpress.com you are limited to about 70 templates, no plug ins, and limited on analytics.
Commercial Themes- if you prefer some support or different design options there are many providers that sell templates. Expect to pay $ 30- 200. The upside of buying a Wordpress theme: may have support services from the designer when it comes to installing and customizing. There are trillions of templates - too many for me to digest. It was recommended to check out www.welovewp.com for some design ideas.
Custom- looking for a unique design and have bucks to put into the project ( I didn’t pay much attention to this option as most of my clients & I do not have the budget luxury )
One question that orginally perplexed me was the difference between Wordpress.com vs. .org. Wordpress.com has limited templates (approx. 70), no plug-in but requires no installation. So if you are technology challenged or want a blog template for personal use, Wordpress.com may be for you. Wordpress.org is preferred by designers and webmasters since you can edit codes, upload your theme, install plug-in bells and whistles but you will need some technical ability to install it on your server. Cons- you are responsible for preventing spam, backing up, installing newer versions and should have some technical interest to handle these housekeeping issues.
What I did learn today, certain servers are more Wordpress friendly. This was good to find out before I started the process. I love learning new facts!!
A lot of handy links were provided by the Freshworkshops moderator – this one has a lot of detailed information http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org
So now I know I will need to adjust my server and go with wordpress.org….next step installing ….stay tunes.
2010 Small Business Resolutions for Online
New year and time to get going. A key to any business is having a plan; a way to measure your accomplishments along the way. Now is a time to put in writing some goals to stay abreast of the ever changing online environment and if lucky, lean some new things along the way. So I documenting my commitment here and plan to check in over the next 12 months to share my success or failures along the way.
Angela Bustamante’s 2010 Online Marketing Resolutions:
Angela Bustamante’s 2010 Online Marketing Resolutions:
1.Use a technology tools to better manage my busy schedule and abundance of information out there. For me personally, that means incorporating Google Reader and Social Bookmaking on a daily basis.
2. Explore Wordpress, its themes and plug-ins. Already started on this goal…Currently working on incorporating a new wp site with the tools I pick up in the coming weeks…stay tuned on my progress.
3. Educate myself (even more) . There is always another blog to read, newsletter to subscribe to and a plethora of free webinars and online classes. I like ClickZ, SEMPO, HubSpot Webinars, MarketingProfs, Lynda.com and Freshworkshops to name a few
4. Focus on creating unique blog and site content. Share my marketing experiences and campaign success for others to learn from. Having worked in CPC,CPM,CPL , Email & now entering Social Media I have a lot of insight on how businesses across different industries and with different budgets are making good use of various media ( pass it along). I too hit roadblocks and learn from others and happy to share new insights
5. Focus on my Local Search networks and Profiles- Bing Local, Google Maps Local Business Center and eventually user reviews
6. Possibly barter or volunteer some of my marketing skills for a fledging small business or non profit, so I can further my portfolio and gain new perspectives.
7. Become active in at least two travel social communities and start particpating ( as I currently provide marketing consulting for a Travel Network and Online Travel Marketing company)
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