What Can Video Ads Do for Your Digital Marketing

What Can Video Ads Do for Your Digital Marketing?

Video ads are a staple of digital marketing. Any time you watch a video on YouTube or browse your favorite social network, you’re sure to run into at least one video ad promoting a business, product, or service.

If you’re not already using video ads as part of your marketing strategy, what can they do for you?

Join our Orange County digital marketing pros as we explore four ways video ads can benefit your business.

Engage Users with Different Types of Video Ads

Google Ads offers a range of video ad formats to choose from based on your digital marketing strategy, budget, and goals. These include:

  • Skippable In-stream
  • Outstream
  • In-feed
  • Non-skippable In-stream
  • Bumper

By giving you a choice of formats for video ads, Google Ads allows you to take a flexible approach to your video advertising and discover what works best for you. However, the variety of formats can be daunting for beginners.

Fortunately, Google launched its Video view campaigns (VVC) program in September 2023, which can make setting up your ads easier.

Promote Your Business Across Diverse Channels

Using video ads helps you expand your digital marketing campaigns across various channels. They will increase your chances of building brand awareness and growing your audience.

You can reach viewers on YouTube, with the formats discussed above, as well as on other social media channels —- TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook to name just a few. Your video ads will also play on sites that belong to the Google Display Network.

Show Your Products and Services in Action

A photograph, even a great one, can only do so much to make your products and services appealing to customers. But videos are a more dynamic way to show why your business is the best choice.

For example, if you run a plumbing company, why not demonstrate your team’s unparalleled skills with footage of a real job? Video ads that focus on your products and services can make a stronger impression than static images alone.

Add Credibility to Your Business

Visually appealing ads that are easy to understand can make your company more credible to newcomers. They don’t need to look as sleek as the latest blockbusters, but they should at least show that your business takes digital marketing seriously.

Whether your video ads are filmed by a professional crew or by your own team, they should have a clear message and address a particular pain point. The more engaging and specific your ads are, the more likely they are to impress your target audience.

Start Building Ads that Boost Your Digital Marketing

Video ads can be a powerful part of any successful marketing strategy. You have multiple formats to choose from, you can boost engagement across multiple channels, and you can demonstrate products in action to whet customer appetites.

Not sure if your PPC strategy is as good as it should be? Our Orange County digital marketing agency is ready to help you with campaigns tailored to your goals, audience, and budget. Contact our team now to get started!

 

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How Can Retargeting Ads Help with Abandoned Carts

How Can Retargeting Ads Help with Abandoned Carts?

Why do customers abandon their carts?

Reasons vary. For example, in 2021, 37% of North American shoppers abandoned a purchase because estimated shipping times were too long. Other factors include finding a better deal elsewhere or getting distracted.

Identifying the most common reasons why users are abandoning their carts will give you the insight you need to create a better experience for new visitors and increase conversions gradually.

But building effective, persuasive retargeting ads can help you bring those shoppers back to your site to complete their purchase sooner rather than later. How does this work?

In this post, our Orange County digital marketing pros will explore retargeting ads and how they help with abandoned carts.

How Do Retargeting Ads Work?

Retargeting ads are a simple way to re-engage visitors who showed an interest in your site.

To get started, you add Google’s remarketing tag (a piece of code) to your website to track users. You can use it to track page visits and actions, such as putting a product into a shopping cart.

When the tag is in place, you’re all set to target potential customers with ads that promote your business or specific products and services they showed an interest in. Your ads might remind them that they have one or more items in their cart on your site. And if they return and complete that transaction, you’ll have your retargeting ads to thank.

But even if they don’t lead to a fast conversion, retargeting ads are valuable for building brand awareness too. They can help your business linger in a potential customer’s mind long after they visit your site.

How to Make Your Retargeting Ads More Effective?

Creating retargeting ad campaigns that bring potential customers back to their abandoned carts isn’t easy. But putting time and effort into retargeting ads will pay off if you get them right.

Here are a few tips to help you make yours more effective.

Grab Attention with Discount Codes

If a visitor has shown enough interest in a product to add it to their cart, even if they left it there, you could whet their appetite by promising a discount in your retargeting ads.

Use Time as an Incentive

If you notice that certain products are left languishing in carts more than others, consider putting them on sale for a while. Create retargeting ads that promote these “limited-time deals” with a sense of urgency, and potential customers may feel more inclined to take the plunge.

Be Sparing with Ad Frequency

Avoid showing your ads to the same potential customers too many times each day or you’ll put them off your business. Sensible frequency capping will help, but knowing when you’re showing ads too little or too often is tough.

Make it easy on yourself: let us take care of your retargeting ad campaigns for you. Our Orange County digital marketing agency will build tailored campaigns to help you reach the right people with the right ads.

Speak to us today to get started!

 

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Keyword Research: How to Get It Right

Keyword Research: How to Get It Right

In-depth keyword research is an essential part of building a successful SEO strategy and campaigns. Keywords tell search engines what each page on your site is related to and when it should be presented to searchers.

Not spending enough time on keyword research is a common SEO mistake. Without the right keywords, your website is less likely to appear when potential customers are looking for the exact products or services that you provide.

But researching your keywords will help you understand how to gain visibility on SERPs and get your site in front of buyers. Still, keyword research can be a complex, time-consuming process and difficult to get right.

To help make it easier for you, our Orange County SEO pros share four simple tips below!

 

Generate Ideas Relevant to Your Business and Industry

Start by brainstorming topics related to the products or services you sell, and your overall industry or niche, to generate ideas for potential keywords. For example, these might be topics that you already cover in your blog posts and videos, such as ‘home security’ or ‘beauty products’.

This process can help you get into a buyer’s mindset, and prompt you to think about what users will search for to find specific products or services.

 

Consider User Intent

User’s search intent is categorized into four types:

  • Informational: The user is looking to learn about a topic.
  • Navigational: The user is looking for a particular website or business.
  • Transactional: The user is ready to buy an item or use a service.
  • Commercial: The user is researching a product or service and needs a little more time to consider their purchase before they commit.

The user’s intent will affect the search terms they use, such as ‘how do I make chocolate cake’, ‘best men’s sneakers for basketball’ or ‘women’s jeans free shipping’.

Think about what type of search terms your target customers are likely to use at each stage of their journey.

 

Take Advantage of Tools

The right tools can make keyword research a little easier, especially if you’re new to the process.

You can use keyword research tools to find out what keywords competing websites use, for example, and they can help you turn your initial ideas into effective keywords. Free ones, such as Google Keyword Planner, are available, as well as paid platforms.

 

Work with SEO Pros for a Simpler Journey to Success

The most effective way to get your keywords right is to leave it to a professional team of SEO specialists.

They’ll handle every aspect of researching the best keywords for your business, whatever your industry and target audience. And you can leave everything else related to your SEO campaigns in their hands, too!

 

Our Orange County SEO experts are ready to boost your online visibility and help your business reach your ideal customers. Get in touch with our team to find out more and to receive your free Relevancy & Quality Score (RQS) Grader, packed with expert insights!

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4 Simple SEO Tips to Optimize Your Site

A solid SEO strategy can increase your busines’s visibility and drive traffic to your site. But actually putting one together can be tough if you’re new to search engine optimization.

In this post, our Orange County SEO experts explore four simple SEO tips to help you optimize your site and reach a bigger audience.

Take Advantage of Video

Video is a key element of most successful marketing campaigns today, and you can utilize it to boost your SEO. It’s estimated that 80 percent of all online traffic will be video by 2021, and it’s an easy way to increase a page’s ability to engage visitors.

Try to create how-to videos, product demonstrations, roundtable discussions with industry experts — content that offers real value. Just make sure you keep the quality high.

Optimize your video content by creating keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions. And don’t just upload them to your site: share them on social media and create a YouTube channel too.

Keep your content well-organized and easy to read

One of the most important parts of any effective SEO campaign is getting your content’s structure right.

Keep your content easy to read and scan. Users don’t want to wade through blocks of dense text, and they’ll click away if they can’t find the information they’re looking for.

Use plenty of whitespace and make paragraphs short, usually just four of five sentences each. Headers (H1, H2, H3) create a clear hierarchy and enable search engines to understand your content better.

To return to our first point, include videos to elaborate on text content in a more dynamic way (e.g. showcasing a product you’ve described).

Optimize Your Content for Voice Search

Voice search is increasingly important as more and more people use their mobile devices to find products or services. It’s actually the second-most popular way to conduct searches on a mobile device.

These are often phrased as questions, such as “where is the nearest Mexican restaurant?”. So, implement questions and answers into your content to increase your visibility.

If you run a local business, include geo-targeted terms to target prospects who might be looking for the exact products or services you offer. They could be around the corner from your company with big money to spend!

Target Mobile Users

Google’s mobile-first indexing means websites optimized for smartphones and tablets are more likely to rank higher than those that aren’t.

That’s no surprise: think how often you use your own mobile device to shop, find information, etc. Make sure you use a responsive web design to provide visitors with a positive user experience on any device, and run regular speed tests to understand how long users need to wait before pages load.

Follow these four simple SEO tips to optimize your website and boost your visibility. Want to work with Orange County SEO experts and discover the benefits of a tailored search engine optimization campaign?

Contact our team today to learn more!

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How to Optimize Your Content for Voice Search

How often do you use voice search on your mobile device?

Chances are, you do it regularly. Half of all searches are expected to be voice-based by the end of 2020, and 30 percent of people browse the web without using a screen at all.

That means businesses and organizations need to make sure their content targets voice searches effectively, but how?

Structure keywords to fit phrases

The proliferation of voice search is driving an increase in content designed to answer questions and suit specific types of phrases.

For example, you might unlock your phone and ask Siri where the nearest vegan restaurant or movie theater is. You’re looking for a fast answer for an immediate issue, rather than a specific product or service. Content intended to suit voice search should be written with question-focused searches in mind.

Pay more attention to local SEO

If you operate a business that caters to the local community primarily, take advantage of local seo techniques to increase your reach. So, if a user asks “what time does Local Coffee Shop open on Saturday?”, your content should help them find your business hours within moments.

Make sure your company profile’s details are correct on Google and cover all the information customers might need to know.

Optimize your site for mobile devices

Your site should be optimized to be mobile-friendly across devices. Otherwise, people may click through but leave when they realize half the content is missing. Even if a page takes too long to load, prospects might lose interest and try a competitor — the probability of users bouncing rises 123 percent when a mobile page takes 10 seconds to load.

Mobile pages should load quickly, be easy to browse on small screens, and display all media properly. Your content must be easy to scan, allowing users to scroll down to find relevant details easily. Follow proper content hierarchy and position the most important information at the top of the page.

Incorporate FAQs into your content

As question-based searches are increasingly common, one simple but effective way to boost your content’s compatibility with voice queries is to add FAQs.

These should answer questions directly and concisely, so anyone who navigates to your site to read them finds the information they’re looking for. While there, they might be impressed by what they see and decide to stay longer. This could translate into conversions, whether that’s a purchase or registration for a newsletter.

Think about the sort of questions prospective and existing customers may have about your business, products, services, etc. For a little inspiration, check out your leading competitors’ websites to see what they’re addressing in their FAQ pages.

Follow these simple tips to optimize your content for voice search and increase your visibility.

Want some expert help to achieve better results? Find out how our Orange County SEO agency can help your business succeed today!

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4 Reasons to Add Videos to Your Landing Pages

 

Do any of your landing pages include videos?

No?

That could be a mistake.

Videos have become a key part of successful digital marketing campaigns, across social media, advertising, and product pages. But why do they work so well on landing pages?

Here are the top 4 reasons.

 

Videos on landing pages can increase conversions

Adding videos to landing pages can boost conversions by as much as 86 percent.

That’s unsurprising when you consider that 90 percent of consumers claim videos help them to make a purchase decision, and 79 percent would prefer to watch a video than read about a product.

Watching a video is faster and more convenient for visitors than reading a blog post, description, or sales pitch. They can sit back, relax, and absorb the relevant information in less time that it might take them to scroll blocks of text.

 

Videos show products and services in action

A text-heavy landing page might tell prospects how wonderful a particular product or service is — but readers have to paint pictures in their mind.

Pictures can show goods from multiple angles — but they’re all static.

Yet videos are dynamic and show products in action.

For example, four concise paragraphs can list a new smartphone’s features and native apps beautifully, but only a video can show the fluid visuals and smooth performance.

 

Videos can build brand recognition

Incorporating videos into landing pages can help to build brand recognition. Adding your logo at the beginning and end is an obvious trick, but you can do so much more.

The brand personality your business has cultivated should be present throughout. So, companies known for a lighthearted and informal tone may create lively videos with plenty of humor.

Whether prospects are familiar with your business already, landing page videos have to align with the tone of the ad which directed them to the site. It should suit the surrounding text and visuals too.

Videos should be crafted with the target audience in mind, based on a concrete understanding of your ideal customers. Define what they’re looking for when they click on an ad and what they expect to see when they reach the landing page. Don’t invest in flashy visuals and cutting-edge animation just to show off — keep everything relevant to your customers.

 

Videos help landing pages to make a stronger impression

People remember information presented through visuals six times better than text or audio.

That means even if your landing pages don’t convert prospects, including a video increases the chance that they’ll remember your business and/or the message conveyed down the line.

They might come back at a later date, and your retargeting campaign could be more effective if prospects already have a positive connection to your brand.

 

Adding videos to your landing pages can make a massive impact on your conversion rates and customer engagement. But actually writing, filming, and editing videos that grabs prospects is a challenge for any first-timer.

Understanding your business, audience, and the possibilities available based on your budget will help to make the process easier.

Want to work with our Orange County digital marketing experts to transform your landing pages? Get in touch today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How to use Featured Snippets

How can You Use Featured Snippets in Your SEO Campaign?

 

We’ve all seen featured snippets by now, even if you don’t know them by name.

They’ve quickly become a common fixture on SERPs (search engine results page), helping users to find fast answers from an authority source just by clicking on one of the snippets at the top of the page.

Each featured snippet includes a link to the site, unlike answer boxes, which makes them a valuable addition to your SEO campaign. But how can you make the most of them?

 

Focus on Answering Questions

Featured snippets commonly answer questions, such as ‘what is a backlink?’ or ‘how do you bake a cake step by step?’.

How to use Featured Snippets
How you can Use Featured Snippets

Dedicate a full page to a question, with images, videos, strong keywords, and an in-depth answer that offers real value to searchers. Focus on giving the reader all the information they need in a well-structured format, incorporating keyword-rich header tags (H2, H3).

 

Embrace Lists

Lists are another type of featured snippet. They may appear in response to searches for ‘where should I stay in San Francisco?’ or ‘the best CRM tools’ (see below).

Featured Snippets List
Embrace Lists in Featured Snippets

A glance at the list gives users a fast answer, but still leaves enough missing to encourage a click through to the site. Lists’ accessibility can help to boost user engagement and aid scannability.

You may not be able to work lists into every piece of content you create, but try to include them when constructing pages dedicated to answering questions.

 

Build Authority to Gain Google’s Recognition

Google draws on authority sites for featured snippets, to ensure maximum value and expertise. So, if you want to increase your site’s chances of being picked, you need to build authority.

How can you do this?

  • Pay attention to your title tags, meta descriptions, and image alt tags
  • Make sure all content is high-quality and formatted in an engaging way
  • Work on achieving backlinks from other authority sites, to build your own credibility
  • Optimize your website for mobile devices

Building authority takes time and patience, but it’ll pay off when Google starts to notice you.

 

Add High-quality Pictures and Videos to Boost Value

Pictures and videos can increase your content’s value. Visual media has the power to convey meaning and present examples to users, answering questions in a more engaging way than text alone. Humans are more likely to remember visuals than words, and content with visuals tends to earn 94 percent more views than text-only content.

These are especially valuable for how-to pieces or resolving complex issues. One good way to increase videos’ impact is to create a transcript, so Google gains a clearer insight into its content.

Take advantage of these ideas to help your site rank for featured snippets. If you manage this, you’ll gain valuable real estate on SERPs and secure more traffic.

Want to learn more about increasing your visibility and ranking? Get in touch with our Orange County SEO experts now, and we’ll give you a FREE pro-marketing analysis.

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Local PPC Tips for Your Company

Local PPC Tips for Your Company

Local PPC is a must for reaching customers when we all have smartphones, with research showing almost half of mobile searches are for local businesses.

And that makes sense. While we might have flipped through a phonebook for restaurants, tailors, plumbers or other service-providers within our local area in days gone by, today we can just ask Google to find them for us.

You can use this convenience and accessibility to your advantage, boosting your company’s visibility for nearby customers.

How? We’ve pulled together some key local PPC tips to help you get started.

 

Get Colloquial

One simple but solid way to attract local buyers is to speak in a language they recognize.

This doesn’t mean you need to pepper your PPC ads with slang you hear on the streets to try and seem cool, but dropping relevant references helps establish your business as part of the community.

For example, if you know consumers like calling your products by a specific term, feel free to adopt it in your content. Show you understand your audience and know how to communicate with them at their level.

 

Include Call Extensions for Direct Contact

Adding call extensions to your PPC ads empowers consumers with an easy way to interact with your brand.

Just by tapping a call button, a customer can book a table in your restaurant, schedule a haircut or plan anything else in a matter of seconds. It saves them having to search your website for your number and is far faster than using an online booking system.

 

Keep Your Google My Business Updated

Google My Business is a must-have element of your online marketing.

Make sure you take advantage of it. Add photos of your establishment, products and even staff or customers (provided they’re happy to be included). Show your business off with professional, clear images.

You can manage your company’s presence on Google Maps and in search results to keep all information updated. Using out-of-date images, contact details or even an incorrect location doesn’t just look amateurish — it means your customers can’t find you when they need to.

 

Avoid Targeting Irrelevant Locations

Exclude locations from your PPC campaign to avoid wasting money on customers outside your local areas. Obviously, if you ship your product around the country or world, you can still be marketing on a wider scale.

Otherwise, when you want to reach local buyers only, refine your target locations for a more cost-effective strategy.

 

Work with a Professional Team

Nett Solutions is an Orange County digital marketing agency committed to helping businesses of all sizes reach your goals.

We’ll work with you to create a bespoke PPC campaign targeting your local audience for maximum impact.

Want to learn more? Just get in touch with our friendly, hard-working team for your FREE marketing analysis!

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Making the Most of Ad Extensions for Better Marketing

Making the Most of Ad Extensions for Better Marketing

You want to reach as many customers as you can. That’s an obvious element of any effective marketing campaign.

But are you doing everything in your power to achieve better results?

If you’re not using extensions in your PPC ads, the answer may be a resounding ‘no’.

Extensions are a simple but impactful way to increase ads’ appeal and reach a bigger audience. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at what they are, how they work and how you need to take advantage of them for better results.

 

Expanding Your Ads’ Power

Ad extensions give you the chance to inject extra details into your ads beyond the headline and copy. Implementing multiple extensions increases your ads’ ability to stand out from others and encourage clicks.

Ad extensions reveal more about your business, your products / services, and your site too. Using the following types of ad extensions can make a big impact on your paid marketing:

 

Sitelinks

A sitelink is simple: it’s a link to a specific page on your website. You can use these to promote sales, popular products or special events.

For example, if you’re hosting a one-off webinar in the coming weeks, you can include a sitelink to the respective page inviting prospects to sign up for it. Obviously, this should be relevant to the ad and appear as an organic element rather than a forced promotion.

Location Extensions

Adding location extensions to your ads gives searchers clear details on how to find your business or the branch nearest to them.

These also show the company isn’t online-only and may prompt them to visit in person. Research supports this: 78 percent of local-mobile searches lead to offline sales.

Call extensions

A call extension is a direct way to communicate with your customers. You can include a phone number for your local or main base, reducing the time it takes for searchers to get in touch.

These are most effective on mobile ads as customers are already on their smartphones and in a position to call you. Call extensions are especially helpful if your business is targeting local buyers rather than a wider audience.

Review Extensions

Want to show prospects all the nice things people have said about you?

You can include third-party feedback / coverage in your ads using review extensions. These boost your company’s credibility and may help you secure searchers’ trust sooner than you might otherwise.

 

Creating a Bespoke Advertising Campaign for Your Business

Want to launch a tailored PPC campaign for your company?

Our Orange County digital marketing team leverages ad extensions and other effective techniques to maximize your ads’ impact. Get in touch now and we’ll give you a FREE marketing analysis!

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