On Wednesday, the Digital Marketing class, our GOMC clients and some other Chatham University student's visited Google's Pittsburgh Office to learn more about the AdWords and especially the Keyword Planner, as we will soon start developing our first campaigns. Timothy James and his associate showed us around the building, and then James presented us some useful facts about AdWords. On the webpage, there are some great pictures of the office, and since we were not allowed to take pictures, I suggest you to take a look at them. What sticked the best on my mind from James' presentation was that you can get better with AdWords the more you use, so if you have a lot of time, energy, and interest, you can become very good at ad planning.
When it comes to the actual Google Keyword Planner, you have to sign up for AdWords in order to use it, and create a first ad campaign. However, on the second sign up page, you can play with the keywords: I had never realized that one can search for essentially the same thing in many ways. That's also another point Timothy James made in his presentation; one should search for all kinds of related words before choosing certain ones, as competition might have many good keywords that you would like to use too.
Another keyword planning tool is Moz, which is slightly more sophisticated website for SEO and keyword planning. It helps with pretty much all kinds of SEO issues, like rankings, content, and of course, how to improve the keywords on your ads. The big drawback to Moz is that it is not available for free, after an initial 30-day trial. In addition, it seems to be very similar to the services Google offers for free, but maybe more neutral and better for more accurate advice.
What I learned from the Google Keyword Planner is essentially how to set up an AdWords campaign, and honestly, it was not that difficult. However, the planner itself is quite handy too, as you can see the number of searches for specific keywords, but I was slightly confused as what the number meant (searches per day/week/hour/month?). I did not sign up for Moz, so I can't be sure what their keyword planner looks like, but they suggest on the website that they analyze the keyword suggestions more carefully than Google.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
On-Site SEO
Since I will be missing class on Friday, the 23th of January, I am writing this blog post on the third chapter of the Internet Marketing Essentials online book, "On-Site Search Engine Optimization". The number one thing I learned was that one should optimize all keyword phrases according to the website they have, and how big their website is. Also, all keywords should point to specific webpages, instead of just the homepage, from where the visitor would have to click onwards, as the map illustrates.
Other important aspects of on-site SEO are relevance of the webpage content and its quality. Relevance is measured by how well the keyword is related to the page. For example, if the keyword appears in the webpage's URL, it gets a lot of relevance points. Quality, on the other hand is measured by the click-through rate from SERP (Search Engine Results Page), low bounce rate from landing page or overall good quality of the content of the webpage.
What I learned from this chapter is the basis of on-site SEO. As of right now, I feel that I could assist my group's client for the Google Online Marketing Challenge a little bit better, when it comes to attracting more visitors through SEO. I also learned more about relevance and why it is so important to be very descriptive about the website's content and link appropriate keywords to each webpage.
I still have little knowledge when it comes to the internet, but I feel I'm getting a better understanding of it every class. However, as I was reading the chapter, I could not understand a header tag. What is it and what exactly does it do? I also thought about how the chapter describes the usage of long tail keyword phrases, and how small websites benefit more from that than bigger ones. What if not that many people search for longer than one- or two-word phrases? Wouldn't that make it harder for a small website to gain a higher ranking on search results? I certainly try to keep my search words to a minimum, but I guess I can't know what other people are doing, at least not until I learn more about Google and how it works.
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| Source: Internet Marketing Essentials |
What I learned from this chapter is the basis of on-site SEO. As of right now, I feel that I could assist my group's client for the Google Online Marketing Challenge a little bit better, when it comes to attracting more visitors through SEO. I also learned more about relevance and why it is so important to be very descriptive about the website's content and link appropriate keywords to each webpage.
I still have little knowledge when it comes to the internet, but I feel I'm getting a better understanding of it every class. However, as I was reading the chapter, I could not understand a header tag. What is it and what exactly does it do? I also thought about how the chapter describes the usage of long tail keyword phrases, and how small websites benefit more from that than bigger ones. What if not that many people search for longer than one- or two-word phrases? Wouldn't that make it harder for a small website to gain a higher ranking on search results? I certainly try to keep my search words to a minimum, but I guess I can't know what other people are doing, at least not until I learn more about Google and how it works.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Market Research Tools
For the Google Online Marketing Challenge, it is crucial to be able to conduct research. Some useful tools that Google itself provides are Global Market Finder, Think with Google and Google Trends. I had never heard of these tools before this assignment, so trying to find out what they are, and what I could use them for, was a bit of a challenge. However, I did manage to discover a few things that hopefully will be useful for the GOMC.
The Global Market Finder proved to be the most difficult to grasp at first, maybe because it is the most advanced form of research, at least for me. The Finder lets the user type in keywords for an AdWord campaign and see where in the world they would create the best opportunities. It uses a combination of Google's other services to create an Opportunity Score for each market, which helps the user to identify which market & country would be ideal for their business.
While the Global Market Finder is better for more advanced businesses, Think with Google and Google Trends are more helpful for aspiring entrepreneurs and new businesses. Think with Google helps you to get advertisement, consumer surveys and other platforms to expand your business, and Google Trends is a great way to find out what the world is talking about right now. It can show you potential competitors and issues that interest consumers, like (for example) the picture below illustrates the most popular searches of 2014 in the United States.
What I learned from these research tools is that there is so much more to Google than just google.com. It is truly fascinating how much information one can find if they just look at different sources and think creatively. Overall, I believe that these tools will become handy in the GOMC, when we become more involved in actually making the AdWord ads for clients.
The Global Market Finder proved to be the most difficult to grasp at first, maybe because it is the most advanced form of research, at least for me. The Finder lets the user type in keywords for an AdWord campaign and see where in the world they would create the best opportunities. It uses a combination of Google's other services to create an Opportunity Score for each market, which helps the user to identify which market & country would be ideal for their business.
While the Global Market Finder is better for more advanced businesses, Think with Google and Google Trends are more helpful for aspiring entrepreneurs and new businesses. Think with Google helps you to get advertisement, consumer surveys and other platforms to expand your business, and Google Trends is a great way to find out what the world is talking about right now. It can show you potential competitors and issues that interest consumers, like (for example) the picture below illustrates the most popular searches of 2014 in the United States.
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| Retrieved from Google Trends |
What I learned from these research tools is that there is so much more to Google than just google.com. It is truly fascinating how much information one can find if they just look at different sources and think creatively. Overall, I believe that these tools will become handy in the GOMC, when we become more involved in actually making the AdWord ads for clients.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Google Online Marketing Challenge: Preview
Chatham University's Digital Marketing class, BUS213, is constructed around Google's Online Marketing Challenge, or simply, GOMC. GOMC is a competition among college students, who find businesses, big or small, that are willing to let the student teams to consult them on bettering the businesses' online presence.
A couple important facts to consider for this challenge are the selection of a business and the campaign the students will be responsible for. Competitive industries should be avoided, and businesses perhaps more unfamiliar with the possibilities internet provides, should be targeted. As for the campaign, it should run anywhere from 7 to 21 days. What the campaign essentially is, is a couple AdWords ads that will be shown when searching for related issues on Google. The teams can also do a campaign on Google +, which is more of a social media type of approach. Also important is to adhere to all rules, regulations and laws that are present in all countries the students wish to target.
Why is GOMC a great opportunity for students to practice their marketing skills? The internet is the easiest way to reach potential customers and consumers of virtually any business, and information spreads there quickly. It is in the best interest of any young marketer to be able to effectively utilize the possibilities internet marketing provides, and to be able to consult others on these issues as well.
Personally, I am intrigued by the GOMC as I have little knowledge of internet marketing, or how advertising online works overall. In addition, I find it interesting that by participating in this challenge, I can meet and work with actual business owners. What are they hoping to get out of this experience; that is what I am eager to find out.
More about the Google Online Marketing Challenge & Online Marketing Overall
A couple important facts to consider for this challenge are the selection of a business and the campaign the students will be responsible for. Competitive industries should be avoided, and businesses perhaps more unfamiliar with the possibilities internet provides, should be targeted. As for the campaign, it should run anywhere from 7 to 21 days. What the campaign essentially is, is a couple AdWords ads that will be shown when searching for related issues on Google. The teams can also do a campaign on Google +, which is more of a social media type of approach. Also important is to adhere to all rules, regulations and laws that are present in all countries the students wish to target.
Why is GOMC a great opportunity for students to practice their marketing skills? The internet is the easiest way to reach potential customers and consumers of virtually any business, and information spreads there quickly. It is in the best interest of any young marketer to be able to effectively utilize the possibilities internet marketing provides, and to be able to consult others on these issues as well.
Personally, I am intrigued by the GOMC as I have little knowledge of internet marketing, or how advertising online works overall. In addition, I find it interesting that by participating in this challenge, I can meet and work with actual business owners. What are they hoping to get out of this experience; that is what I am eager to find out.
More about the Google Online Marketing Challenge & Online Marketing Overall
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