About Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc., is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. Beasley provides services in inbound and outbound marketing including: content creation, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), print advertising, social media advertising, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, Amazon Marketing Services (AMS), website design, media planning/public relations, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc., helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing and is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb of Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com.

About CMC Rescue, Inc.

For over 40 years, CMC has been developing innovative tools, education and training used by professionals in the fire service, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), wilderness rescue, rigging, tactical and work-at-height industries. Today, the CMC brand is synonymous with technical rescue and rope access expertise around the world. As co-founders of the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT), the International Technical Rescue Symposium (ITRS), and International Technical Rescue Association (ITRA), CMC remains committed to innovating across all work-at-height industries. An employee-owned company, CMC is an ISO-9001 certified manufacturing facility. For more information, visit www.cmcpro.com.

Need an SEO or PPC audit? Contact us for free consultations:

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By Laurie B. Beasley

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A Broad Match Modifier is a variation on the traditional Broad Match for your keyword matching options. They can drive an improved reach and ROI. We’ll illustrate in a case study for a community bank client later in this blog. First, some basics on how the Broad Match Modifier works.

The Broad Match Modifier as Your Ultimate Reach: How it Works

When setting up your keyword match types, Broad Match gives you the most reach and variability in the searches your ad can appear on. In addition, the keyword’s cost-per-click (CPC) tends to be lower than using phrase or exact match. For example, if you have set up the keyword “men’s shoes” as a broad match, your ad can appear whenever Google Ads thinks it’s relevant. The ad could be triggered by searches like “shoes for men,” “men’s tennis shoes,” “dress shoes for men” or “loafers for guys.” It can appear on any synonym, plural or variation Google Ads thinks is appropriate.

This results in a wide reach to a lot of different searchers. However, often times the reach is too wide and you are getting clicks (each one costing you money) from searchers who are not looking for your particular product. You are selling dress shoes and your ad is appearing in searches for tennis shoes.

Phrase and Exact Match will focus your ads to appear in front of a much more limited set of searchers. Often times, they narrow the search down too much. The result is you don’t achieve the necessary impression volume you need to reach your marketing goals. What you need is a better balance of reaching a larger audience and yet focusing in on your product – and the Broad Match Modifier affords you exactly this balance.

What is Broad Match Modifier and how does it differ from straight Broad Match?

Broad Match Modifier will allow you to maintain a larger reach for different searches, while giving you some ability to focus the searches that your ad appears upon.

When Broad Match Modifier is used, a “+” is placed in front of a keyword, telling Google Ads to include that word “as is” in the search. Then the keyword can appear in any order in the actual search query, but the modified word or a close variation (plurals, stems, etc.) must be included.

For example:

The keyphrase “+women’s hats” could trigger an ad to appear when the searcher types in “women’s caps,” “white hats for women” or “women’s red caps.” It would not appear on “girl’s hats” because the modifier keyword “women’s” (or a close variation) was not included in the search.

In addition, you can use Broad Match Modifier to modify multiple words in your larger keyphrase you are bidding on:

The keyphrase “+women’s +hats” will trigger your ad when the searchers enter “women’s hats,” “hats for women,” “women’s blue hats” or “lacy women’s hats.” Your ad would not be triggered without both “women’s” and “hats” included in the search. Remember that the order of the words does not matter. This allows for a broader reach than phrase match where the order is maintained.

Case Study: Broad Match Modifier for a Community Bank’s Google Ads Campaigns

One of our clients, a community bank, wished to target real estate investors searching for multi-family properties. After developing an initial keyword list with a split of 30% broad match, 30% phrase match and 40% exact match, the campaign was launched. We targeted three medium size cities and six counties.

After one week’s worth of traffic, we analyzed the results, both from a conversion-to-lead basis and from a search query basis. The phrase and exact match traffic was very low. The traffic we did see performed well but at too low volume to meet the client’s goals.

Broad match generated plenty of traffic volume but a very low conversion rate. When we reviewed the search queries (Search Terms Report) that were driving the clicks, we saw a lot of consumer-based traffic. Terms being bid upon, such as “apartment building loan,” were triggering the client’s ads for terms such as “loans for apartment” and “loans to buy an apartment.” Traffic from these searches would land on the site and exit after it became apparent the bank was offering loans to purchase apartment buildings, not just one apartment. The Broad Match traffic was converting to a lead at less than a 0.5% rate.

Modifying the Broad Match List

We worked with the client to modify the Broad Match list into a more focused Broad Match Modifier list. Some of the terms were updated to Broad Match Modifier, for example:

“apartment building loan” became “+apartment+building+loan.” This had our client showing up for more relevant searches, such as “loans for apartment buildings” and “loans to buy apartment building.”

Results: CTR went from 1.85% to 3.99% in the first week. Conversion rates jumped from 1.78% to 5.10%.

“financing rental units” became “financing+rental+units.” The client’s ads began showing for searches on “best rates for financing rental units” and “banks who finance rental units purchase,” among others.

Results: CTR went from 2.57% to 3.77% in the first week. Conversion rates jumped from 0.78% to 4.22%.

A Winning Campaign

Over the course of two weeks across the entire campaign, we saw the traffic from the Broad Match list (now a Broad Match Modifier list) improve its conversion-to-lead rate to 4.1% while still maintaining a strong volume. The search queries driving the clicks were much more relevant to the ideal customer profile we had developed at the start of the engagement.

We were also able to add to our Phrase and Exact Match list based on analyzing the post-change search queries. We found a series of phrases that were not originally identified and added them to the appropriate ad groups.

Broad Match Modifier allowed our client to run ads in a limited geographic area with a more specific set of targeting options that resulted in improved conversion rates.

By John Thyfault, Vice President of Search Engine and Social Media Marketing, Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc.

Read more digital marketing case studies in Resources.

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Contact us now.

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The STEM Teachers Program and Encorps

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc., a full service direct and online marketing agency, has been appointed as the search engine marketing agency for EnCorps STEM Teachers Program, the only nonprofit in the nation recruiting the best and brightest STEM professionals as an innovative, long-term solution to the shortage of high quality, impactful educators for under-resourced students in high needs schools. EnCorps has received a Google Ad Grant for $10,000 USD in in-kind AdWords advertising every month. Beasley Direct and Online Advertising’s initial work will focus on setting up the pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign to generate new teacher leads and to validate which keywords are performing best. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing will then optimize the website by removing technical obstacles from being indexed by the search engines, conducting keyword and key phrase research, writing new optimized web content, writing new meta descriptions and titles, and inbound link building.

About Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc., is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. Beasley provides services in inbound and outbound marketing including: content creation, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), print advertising, social media advertising, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning/public relations, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing and is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb of Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to BeasleyDirect.com.

About EnCorps STEM Teachers Program

EnCorps STEM Teachers Program empowers STEM industry professionals to transform public education by teaching in high needs schools. On average, EnCorps Teachers have 17 years of professional STEM experience and 68% have advanced degrees. EnCorps aims to increase the quantity and quality of STEM teachers to ensure that all students have access to first-rate STEM learning. And, to reverse the nation’s decades-long decline in math and science, and to develop a workforce pipeline based on 21st century skills. One decade into its mission, EnCorps has impacted more than 60,000 California students and boasts a teacher retention rate of nearly 90%, well above industry standard.

Press contacts:

Laurie Beasley
President, Beasley Direct and Online Marketing,Inc.
lbeasley@beasleydirect.com
408-782-0046 x21

Bethany Orozco
Communications and Southern California Recruitment Director
bethany.orozco@encorps.org
310-293-9220 direct

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In a time when the competition for visitors driven to your site from Google AdWords is increasing, using all the tools that are available to spend your budget wisely is a must. This is particularly true for companies that have locations that are only open during certain hours. Or, if you know your searchers have a specific pattern when they’re looking for your type of company, which was the case of our franchise client. This makes time based geo targeting a critical, competitive skill for your tool set.

Getting in Front of the Right Searcher at the Right Time

There are two settings within AdWords that can allow your ads to get in front of the right searcher at the right time. AdWords allows advertisers to set-up schedules when your ads will appear in front of your potential customers. You can set schedules by time of day, day of the week and even multiple live and dark periods during a specific day. This can allow for a very targeted approach to when your ad is being displayed.

We used this to great effect for our office cleaning franchise client, by having multiple live and dark periods during the business week. The client offered janitorial service franchises on a regional basis. The potential customers that they were looking for were divided into two groups:

1. Individuals 

An individual who was already working as an office cleaner for someone else and wanted to become their own boss. This potential customer would be working after normal business hours, from 7:00 PM to 1:00 AM. They would have time to search online in the afternoon, also after 1:00 AM, and on the weekends. They were generally looking for a single unit franchise.

2. The Successful Business Person

The second customer being targeted was the successful business person who was looking to become a business owner and to make a wise investment in a franchise business. They would do online searches during normal business hours with some time spent online during Sunday afternoon.

A Unique Message for Each Targeted Customer Profile

Both customer profiles had a unique set of messages that they would respond to as well as having a different tone of voice in the ad. We created separate campaigns for the two customer segments. The campaigns were targeted to their specific times online and containing the different messaging that resonated with the segment. This improved the client’s performance in both CTR (click through rate) and CPL (cost per lead very rapidly). CTR bumped from 2.5% to 5.9% on average and the cost per lead decreased by 22% within the first month.

The Key for Campaign Performance in Multi-Time Zone or International Scheduling

The above is a very locally geo targeting scenario, being focused on a specific city or state. If this was being run out of a local AdWords account, the geo settings are a simple thing to set up. But often, an advertiser will be displaying ads across multiple time zones or even countries. This adds a wrinkle to how the schedules are set up. The following is the key to getting the campaigns to perform by ad scheduling in a multi-time zone situation. Remember that your AdWords account has a permanent time zone assigned to it when it was originally set-up. This generally matches your billing address but can be set to your choice initially. Once set though, it is unchangeable.

This can make for a bit of a challenge when setting up national or international campaigns. For example, if you are in Los Angeles and you wish to run an ad schedule for a Boston targeted campaign, you need to offset the start and end times by 3 hours to account for the time zone difference. This can quickly result in multiple campaigns that may be identical in all aspects except for the ad schedule.

Customer Profiles, Online Times and Location in Time Based Geo Targeting

Understanding the profile of individual customer segments, the times that they are online and where they are located can dramatically improve your performance. It is all about having the ads live when your customers are searching and dark when they are offline. This will result in a more qualified click on the ad and an increased likelihood to convert to a lead or a sale. AdWords gives you the tools to do this and the smart advertiser will take advantage of them to spend their dollars wisely.

Click here to view a video on AdWords targeting.

The post Improving AdWords Performance with Time Based Geo Targeting: A Case Study for a National Office Cleaning Franchise with Local Offices appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

The DMAnc and Online Marketing Institute (OMI) are offering Live Online Certification webinars on PPC (Pay-per-Click) Advertising this coming October. The two online PPC courses offered on Fridays, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time (PST) are:

October 20th

Pay-per-Click Advertising Fundamentals: How to Get Started

As more and more companies are joining the competitive PPC marketplace, understanding how to use various aspects of the different search engines to differentiate your products is key. Google, Bing and other PPC providers are continually adding new features and options for pay-per-click advertising. Further, this two-hour session will give you a solid foundation on the latest changes and opportunities. Learn more.

October 27th

Advanced Pay-per-Click Advertising: Using Sophisticated Tactics and Tools

Google and the other search engines are offering much more sophisticated ways to target likely prospects and also re-target them after visiting your landing page. This session will help you develop more advanced online PPC campaign structures, mobile targeting and re-marketing. Learn more.

About the DMAnc (DMAnc.org)

The DMAnc was formed to educate, inform and provide networking opportunities for Direct and Online Marketing professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Additionally, we hold monthly luncheon meetings, workshops, periodic half-day seminars, and provide opportunity for the best in learning and job networking in the Northern California marketing community.

For more information on our online PPC webinars, Contact:

Laurie Beasley
Chair, DMAnc
408-782-0046 x21
lbeasley@beasleydirect.com

The post Live Online PPC (Pay-per-Click) Certification Webinars. appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc., a full service direct and online marketing agency, has been appointed as the search engine marketing consulting agency for First Northern Bank, an independent community bank serving Solano, Yolo, Sacramento, Placer and Contra Costa counties in Northern California. The initial work will focus on setting up a pay-per-click campaign (PPC) to generate new mortgage and small business loan applications, and creating new landing pages. Follow on work will include creating re-targeting and display ad campaigns.

About Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc., is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. Beasley provides services in inbound and outbound marketing including: content creation, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), print advertising, social media advertising, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning/public relations, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc., helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing and is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb of Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com.

About First Northern Bank

First Northern Bank is an independent community bank that specializes in relationship banking. The Bank, headquartered in Solano County since 1910, serves Solano, Yolo, Sacramento, Placer, and Contra Costa County, as well as the west slope of El Dorado County. Experts are available in small-business, commercial, real estate and agribusiness lending, as well as mortgage loans. The Bank is an SBA Preferred Lender. Non-FDIC insured Investment and Brokerage Services are available at every branch location, including Dixon, Davis, West Sacramento, Fairfield, Vacaville, Winters, Woodland, Sacramento, Roseville and Auburn. The Bank has a full-service Trust Department in Sacramento and a commercial lending office in Walnut Creek. Real estate mortgage and small-business loan officers are available by appointment in any of the Bank’s 10 branches. First Northern is rated as a Veribanc “Blue Ribbon” Bank for the earnings period ended March 31, 2017 (www.veribanc.com). The Bank can be found on the Web at www.thatsmybank.com, on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

Press contacts:

Laurie Beasley, President, Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc.
lbeasley@beasleydirect.com

Diana LaPoint
Vice President/Marketing Manager
First Northern Bank
2270 Douglas Blvd., Suite #100 | Roseville, CA 95661 | (916) 787-8507

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What the Data says about Expanded Text Ads for Google AdWords

On May 24, 2016 Google announced that the AdWords interface would start accepting a new, expanded format text ad as of July. This was a profound change to the ad format that AdWords has been using for over 10 years. Many advertisers were understandably excited by the announcement and expected great improvements in performance from the longer format ads.

We’ve had 60 days of data to look at since the launch of the Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) on July 26, and now we will look to answer the question, “Is Bigger Necessarily Better?”

What’s Different in the Ad Format?

Before we dig into the data, let’s talk about what is different in the new ETA format.

• The headline field has jumped from one headline of 25 characters to two headlines of 30 characters each.
• The description field has combined the previous two separate description lines of 35 characters each into one field of 80 characters in total.
• The display URL now auto populates with the domain of the destination URL and adds two separate field paths of 15 characters each. This is a shift from having to enter both the domain and additional text into one field of 35 characters.

Headline Field

The longer headline field allows the advertiser to create stronger, benefit rich headlines that can do a better job of enticing potential customers to click. The advertiser can now include a strong benefit statement and a call to action in the headline instead of having to choose between the two. This was the first area that Beasley Direct and Online Marketing looked at when we were updating our client’s ads. It remains the key field that we are running split tests on. Google has stated the testing of the new headlines is a best practice to take advantage of the new format.

Description Field

The combined 80-character description field is a welcome update. No longer does the advertiser need to worry about words and phrases being too long to fit on one 35-character line. The number of times that we’ve had to make a second choice in language because of the two-line split is countless and this change will allow more natural, flowing text that can communicate the benefits of our client’s products to their potential customers.

Display URL Format

The new display URL format takes a bit of getting used to. The splitting of the text following the domain into two separate “paths”. We’ve found that while there is still the opportunity for the addition of calls to action and benefits into this section, the “/”’s that separate the two fields breaks up the flow of the text enough that it is better to approach it as two separate items instead of one combined as existed in the previous standard ads.

Digging in to the Data

What we’ve seen with our clients’ expanded text ads, and what we expect in the next few months:

• We saw an initial spike in CTR when we rolled out our first advertiser ads in late July and early August. Some advertisers saw an increase in performance of up to 52%. This has fallen off somewhat as other advertisers are catching up with updating their ads. We have seen a slightly higher increase in conversion percentage as well, reflecting the new format’s ability to better qualify the potential customer with more info before the click. We expect to see a net gain over time in CTR and conversion rates based on the expanded amount of text in the ads but not at the high levels seen initially.

• We’ve learned some lessons on sharing too much of the client’s story in the ad and thus lessening the CTR because the potential customer doesn’t feel the need to learn more by clicking. This trap of oversharing is not unique to the new format, just a little easier to fall prey to. We saw a decrease in one branded campaign of 5% in CTR due to too much of the offer/story being told in the ad. We addressed this and are now back to a net increase in CTR with the new ETAs.

• Having the expanded 2-line headline gives the advertiser a great opportunity to tease with more intriguing copy and details. We’ve seen an overall increase in the quality of the traffic from ETAs, as measured by conversion rates. To date, this increase as been fairly consistent, regardless of the advertiser being BtoB or BtoC.

Are Bigger Text Ads Better?

So, are bigger text ads better? So far, yes but they are not a silver bullet. Advertisers still need to work the process, testing message assumptions with a steady stream of split tests for all the new, updated elements of the ads. (Remember to keep the tests distinct and separate as you go through the process.)

Good luck and good profits!

About the Author

John Thyfault

This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, Beasley Direct & Online Marketing.

(Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.)

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