It could well be a case that click through rates could vary on different devices, so if you had a bad desktop CTR and a good mobile device CTR, then by splitting them into separate campaigns, you wouldn’t bring down the mobile click through rate.

However, it is time consuming when it comes to creating mobile landing pages or even separate mobile sites, but there is a work-around available for these situations. If your client doesn’t have a mobile site or landing page, you can set up your mobile campaign ads with a call extension in AdWords. To do this, select “call-only format” to ensure that only your phone number is clickable on mobile devices.

Mobile clicks will generate a phone call to you or your client, and you can bypass a mobile landing page.

If you choose this call-only format for mobile campaign ads, ensure you include the tablet audience in other campaigns. If your site is accessible via tablet devices, you could include this segmentation with your desktop campaigns. If you have the data to support separate tablet campaigns, it might be worth the additional effort to have separate campaigns for mobile, tablet and desktop devices.

To add a call extension to your mobile campaigns, click on the Ad Extensions tab in AdWords.

Select the campaign you want to apply the extension to, enter your phone number and select the call-only format box if you want to only generate calls from mobile devices.

Make sure to check the second box for call metrics. From my experience in Ireland so far, mobile traffic is contributing to a very small amount of overall traffic. How are you finding it? Do you notice a difference in how your mobile traffic performs compared to other traffic forms? Let us know below.

Q. Why do I say this?

A. The trend line for investment in online advertising in Ireland continues to grow and grow. It is very much a growth industry and is fast taking over from more traditional advertising  mediums such as print. Money would not be flooding into this advertising medium unless the investor was getting something in return. Online advertising works.

A recent survey made by PricewaterhouseCoopers, showed that there was a 13.5% increase in online advertising spend in 2010. The online advertising market is now worth €110 million per year, and all indications are that this will continue to grow next year. A rise of 13.5% is very strong when you consider the current economic climate we find ourselves in here in Ireland.

Reasons why businesses are increasingly seeing the Internet as the place to market their business are:

• More and more people are becoming Internet savvy. From kids to grandparents, every demographic is represented online.
• The % of households with Broadband continues to increase. There are over 1.6 million active Internet subscriptions in Ireland.
• People spend more time online than ever before. People can read the newspapers, watch tv, interact with their friends, make purchases, peform research, find love, book holidays, discover new music and much more online.
• Results are very transparent as campaigns are easy to track.
• Returns on investment are high.
• With online search marketing, people are actively searching for what you have to offer. You might run an ad in a newspaper but the vast majority of people that see that ad have no interest in what you are selling. With search marketing people are searching for what you have to offer. They type in keywords such as ‘car insurance’ into Google and if they find your business at the top of the rankings then they will probably enter your website and possibly buy from you.
• Many online advertising mediums e.g. social media, allow you to open a dialogue with your customer base.
• 78% of Internet users conduct product research online. If your product is not accessible in this research stage then you won’t be considered for a sale.

If you own a business and are wondering if the Internet could work for you, then I am here to assure you that it can work and will work. Whether you have an advertising budget of €500 or €50,000 there is profit to be made online. The fact that you are even wondering if the Internet will work for you and your business is a good thing. You have moved one step ahead of your rivals that don’t know what the Internet is. Granted, that is only one very small step but it brings you and your business closer to being an online success story.

Are you about to get involved with Pay Per Click campaigns, but have no idea what it’s all about, or where to even start? Well, fear not. Read on for a basic introduction to Pay Per Click, also known as PPC.

Pay per click (PPC) is an online advertising model used on search engines, such as Google, where advertisers pay their host only when the ad is clicked. Advertisers bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. So, if you are selling shoes online, you would bid on a keyword such as “buy black shoes online” and so on.

You can operate these ads on the Google Search network and on the Google Content Network. The Search network is where ads appear when you carry out a search on Google for example. The ads appear over the organic or natural listings. The content network contextually matches ads as opposed to using keywords. Ads on the content network appear on web forums such as www.boards.ie . Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.

Both SEO and PPC fall under the umbrella of Search Marketing as they both involve increasing your visibility on search engines. The primary difference between SEO results on the left hand side and pay per click results on the right hand side is that you must pay for the PPC results. Every single time someone clicks on your ad you must pay money. When people click on the natural SEO results on the left hand side you have to pay nothing.

In Ireland, Google Adwords is the main provider of PPC services, but Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter also provide PPC services. Google is by far the most popular search engine in Ireland. Choosing the right platform for you depends on what market you want to appear in. For example, in some countries, there can be other search engines that are as popular as Google.

One of the main advantages of Pay Per Click marketing or sponsored ads is that PPC marketing allows you to gain immediate visibility on page 1 of search results. Top SEO rankings can take time to achieve, therefore if your website needs immediate exposure on page 1 then you will have to consider PPC marketing. Many companies will invest in both SEO and PPC and they can make large profits out of both. By having your website rank on page 1 in the paid listings and the natural listings then you start to dominate the industry. People are now highly likely to click on your website and purchase from you.

You can use your PPC ads to advertise your website, special offers or pretty much anything you want, provided they adhere to strict guidelines. The most common ad to use is a text ad, but you can also use image ads too on the content network.

Facebook also provides sponsored ads which have different advertising guidelines to Google Adwords.

Setting up a campaign is relatively straight forward. It’s building the right campaign and using the best strategy is where the work is. You would have a few options when it comes to managing a PPC campaign. You can do it yourself, or outsource it to an agency for example.

Outsourcing your PPC is probably best if you don’t have the time to manage it yourself. Depending on the size of the campaign, you need to be able to monitor it.

Over the last few weeks JumpStart Marketing have begun working with a wide range of new clients. It is great fun trying to get a varied selection of websites to the top of their niche. Some niches are relatively easy and some are not so easy. Some require a small budget and some require a large budget. Whether it is a big brand company or a small local company the feeling is still great when you get their website to the top.

The new clients we aim to drive to the top of the search rankings are:

• Carey Glass Joinery
• First Step Insurance
• Happy Jane
• 3Q Recruitment

We have decided to take on an Adult niche client this month. This is proving to be a good challenge and discussing the keywords to target is hilarious. It is only early days for all these clients so look out for them on page 1 of search results over the next few weeks.

Have you been thinking about creating a Facebook advertising campaign? Facebook offers great alternatives to advertising on Google Adwords. However, there are a few things to consider before you create a Facebook campaign.

Are you promoting your Facebook page, or do you want to promote your website using Facebook ads?

This is important, as it will determine how you will create your ads. Having an active Faceboook profile is also key to making your ads work.

Make people want to click your ad

If you want to get people to “like” your Facebook page or become a “fan”, a good thing to do would be to offer an incentive, such as “become our 100th fan and get a €50 voucher”, something like that. Run a competition for example. (Anything to bring them to your profile page). Give users an incentive to visit your page!

Include Special Offers and deals in your ad copy

If you are promoting an external URL such as your website, include an offer in your ad to make them want to click on that ad to find out more.

Use Facebook widgets on your website

You can suggest your Facebook page to your friends list, but the last thing they want is someone constantly bugging them to click “like”. It can often backfire. If you embed a Facebook widget on your website, this can help you get fans without having to send out reminders to your friends list all the time. There are many options on how to embed widgets on your website. It isn’t that difficult to do. Just carry out a search online, and you’ll be presented with a range of options to suit you.

Keep your wall open to the public

Allow people to make comments, or upload photos or be able to tag themselves. Obviously monitor the comments and traffic on your wall.

Update your Facebook page regularly

How often do you update your Facebook page? This is obviously important if people are clicking on ads (which will cost). They should be going to an up-to-date page.

Demographic and Location

What age are the people you are targeting? Do you tend to get more male or female customers? You can filter your targeting in Facebook to only target certain demographics and age groups. You can also target people with specific interests. This offers you the potential to be very specific in who you want to see your ads, which can only be a good thing.

For example, if you are selling guitars, and want to only target males between the ages of 20 – 30 who are only interested in guitars, you can do so in the targetting options in Facebook.

Promoting an External URL

If you are promoting an External URL (your homepage for example) with a sponsored ad, give users the option to also refer back to Facebook, once they get to  your website. Try and include a Facebook widget on the site. They can then click “like” on the website.

Further Information:

The ad section of Facebook provides a good general overview and tutorial on how you can create a basic Facebook campaign.

I’ll go into more detail next time about how you can create great ads for Facebook, and more importantly, how you can analyze the data.

In my line of work I have to create 2 – 3 new SEO proposals and quotations each week. These take time to create. Luckily for me I have it down to a fine art at this stage.

In general the bigger the potential client is the more work needs to be put into your proposal. Big clients have big budgets and you need to demonstrate your competence in the field if you want a slice of this budget. You need to be able to point out what is currently going wrong with their site and how you are going to fix it.

The areas that I feel I need to cover in each SEO proposal are:

1. Quotation - I usually get this one out of the way on page 1. I always quote minimum investment values, under which I will not go. If a company tries to haggle then I politely ask them to take their work elsewhere. I always give an honest quote and never charge a Cent more than what I believe is necessary for your site to be a success.

2. SEO Breakdown – This section gives a percentage breakdown of where your SEO budget is going to be invested. It covers 5 key areas:
Discovery 5%
Optimisation 40%
Link Building 40%
Landing Page Creation 10%
Reporting & Analysis 5%

3. SEO Audit - I give a detailed break down of the positive and negative aspects of your site. Each site we audit has varying degrees of positive and negative SEO elements. A lot of websites I work with will have perfect optimisation but they will have very few inbound links to power their website up the rankings. Obviously this type of candidate would require much more link building work for their site than other websites.

4. 5 Key Areas To Focus On – Here I list the top 5 SEO elements that need to be focused on. I give a small description of the current situation and let the client know the exact steps we will take to fix this. The top 5 areas we list here are usually:

1. Link Building
2. Optimisation
3. Landing Page creation
4. Content Creation
5. Social Media

5. Ranking Analysis - I perform keyword research for each client and put together a benchmark ranking report for them to view. This really hits home the message that their site is under performing in the natural search results. The rankings don’t lie. Many clients will have an idea from Analytics that search engine traffic is their main traffic source. What they often fail to realise is that 80% of their organic traffic is generated through branded search. A ratio of 4:1 (branded : non branded traffic) is not good enough and needs to be fixed. Their SEO strategy will primarily focus on targeting the non branded element of search.

6. Ranking Targets - If I advise the client to go with a 6 or 12 month SEO plan then I will make specific predictions of what I think is achievable in terms of ranking improvements. I don’t give specific predictions for specific words. My predictions work off percentages. From their ranking report I will aim to increase top 1, 5, 10, and 30 rankings by a certain percentage.

Years of working in the industry with a range clients has allowed me the ability to make pretty accurate predictions. It is also advisable to set realistic expectations at this stage. SEO is a long term commitment so taking on a client that expects top results in 1 month is not advisable.

7. Reporting - I give a brief explanation of what the client can expect in terms of reporting. I list the KPIs that we will be tracking and the frequency of reporting.

8. Work Experience - I have worked with many of Ireland top companies and I want my potential client to know this. They are hiring someone with huge experience getting results in competitive industries and they are paying very low prices for this. Having been in the business for almost 7 years now I have worked in a huge number of different niches. If this report is for a new finance client then I list out the financial clients I have worked with and also list out key ranking achievements I have made in that niche.

That sums up briefly the key areas I like to focus on in my SEO sales pitches. As I said before, they take time to create. This is work that you are not going to get paid for, but

If you want to catch some big SEO fish then you need to take time to prepare the right bait.

I will expand on each of these 8 points more in future Blog posts

My Sales Pitch - I do the SEO work for 7 of Ireland’s top Internet marketing agencies. As part of this arrangement I put together their SEO Proposals and Quotes for free. They can then use these reports to pitch to new potential new clients providing they outsource the work to me if successful. This arrangement works for them and if you own an Internet marketing agency and need help reeling in the big clients then maybe it might just work for you as well.

Link building can be a time consuming job. It can also be extremely boring. I am always on the look out for software that will make it easier and quicker to increase exposure and build links and get better results for my clients. A service that I am currently checking out is called OnlyWire.

Automatic Social Bookmarking Software
OnlyWire can auto-submit content to the highest ranked social media sites. Bookmarking your latest Blog posts on these types of websites can have beneficial effects in terms of increased traffic, exposure and link acquisition. Manual Social bookmarking takes forever to do but if you want to get your articles noticed by the masses then social bookmarking cannot be ignored, even if it takes time. Hopefully this automated solution will solve this problem and allow me to disseminate my lates blog post throughout the social media world with just one click.

Whats available: You can post to 42 different social media sites at a time. You are allowed 300 free submissions per month.

What’s the catch? To use the free version you have to place the bookmark button at the bottom of this post onto your blog. It has some advertising on it which you can get rid of on the paid version.

How does it work? You register with all 42 social bookmarking sites and log your details into the onlywire system. You create a new and exciting blog post and you press a button to auto submit the article to the social bookmarking sites. There is a Wordpress plugin that allows you to submit via a tick box.

I am currently availing of the free version for the JumpStart Blog. I will write a review of this service in a few weeks when I start to see results.

If you are already using the software and can give some good feedback then leave a comment below.

p.s. I do not make any money out of promoting this service. If it is a piece of junk then I will say it is.

Things are getting a little bit too busy onboard the JumpStart rocketship these days. I have attempted to grow 2 extra arms to cope but that experiment didn’t quite work. Anyhow…..new clients onboard include:

• TaxAssist.ie
• Plan My Debs
• Equine World
• Ballincollig Dental
• GoTri
• Temple Gate Hotel
• Travel Focus

We have also gained some really big brand names (that I would love to boast about) via outsourcing from some of Ireland’s top Internet marketing agencies. There are many great things about getting outsource SEO work from other marketing agencies but not being able to mention them is not one of them.

Prediction: JumpStart will have to stop taking on clients by March. We have no intention of expanding and we can only cope with a certain amount of work before we burst. Contact us soon if you are thinking of taking the SEO plunge.

Each year I get even more tempted to tear up my credit card. 2010 was no exception. Once I start buying I just can’t stop. In a previous Blog post entitled ‘Add Shops to the Endangered Species List‘, I commented on how I do all my shopping online – I am going to explore that idea in this post.

Background - First of all you need to know a little about me

1. Internet Nerd – Totally
2. Size – Small / V. Small
3. Hobbies – Triathlon

These 3 facts will have a large bearing on why I shop online. I am an Internet nerd so I am fairly Internet savvy and know my way around the big bad world of the Internet. Being a size small / v. small means that when I go into clothes shops it can be very hard to find clothes that fit. Triathlon is an expensive sport and it is fairly new to Ireland. The best selection and lowest prices are to be found in the UK or US.

Rough Total Spend 2010 = €14,000

• Insurances – €750
• Motor Tax – €350
• Clothing – €500
• Sports Gear – €3000
• Enter races – €500
• Book hotels – €700
• Book flights – €650
• Holiday Rentals – €400
• Buy software – €800
• Buy tickets (concerts / matches etc.)- €300
• Presents for every occasion – €1500
• Buy Computer Equipment – €2000
• Office Equipment – €1000
• Accountant – €1500

With Internet banking I do all my banking from home. I can:

• Receive payments
• Pay contractors
• Pay ESB bill, Phone bill, Credit Card bill etc

With Revenue.ie I can log on and file and pay all my tax returns.

With RTE.ie / Irish Independent /The Guardian (local newspaper) I can catch up on the news every day for free.

It is allegedly a possibility that I download the latest movies / tv series / music for free online.

The above covers virtually all my shopping needs. Day to day groceries could be bought online from Tescos and brought to my door but I live on the local Tesco’s doorstep so that would be just downright laziness! If I want to order a pizza  or fast food online then that can be done too.

The Irish government have been providing more and more of their services online (which is to be welcomed). Online education is becoming very popular. 2 of my brothers are currently studying for online Maths Degrees from the Open University. Broadband speeds and connectivity are always improving and more and more businesses are now appearing online. More and more kids are growing up Internet savvy so all things point to a future dominated by virtual stores.

My online shopping also strongly points to the demise of offline shopping. Will offline shopping disappear completely? Of course not. Will it be radically changed in the future? Probably.

www.getabercert.ie

This website is well established and brings in a sizable annual income for the current website owner. The current owner is taking a year out to travel the world so the website is available now to buy or rent.

The website is worth €5000 due to the web design and marketing work put into it and due to the return on investment that is possible.

Buy - The website is being sold for €1500.

Rent - There is also the option of renting the website for €75 a month. I will set-up the website for you and help you with marketing for the year. This marketing work is included in the rental price so you are more or less getting that for free!

If you are a BER assessor and you want to source a lot more BER work in 2011 then contact me via

• email at shane@jumpstartmarketing.ie
• phone at (087) 2605743.

The website appears highly on Google.ie for many different keywords. You can expect hundreds of visitors to the site each month. If you renting the site then the visitor numbers and rankings are likely to increase as more work will be performed throughout the year.

This is a trusted website online with a decent PR so there is a good opportunity for marketeers to turn it into a directory site if they wanted. Actually, if this site doesn’t sell in the next few weeks I think I will change it into a directory site myself!