PPC & SEO Website Marketing Tips

WARNING – Google AdWords PHISING SCAM – Please Update Your Billing Information

Patrick Burke — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Many of my clients have forwarded an email that they received today that looked like it came from Google AdWords. Luckily for them they did not believe it and instead came to me looking for validation. The email is a fraud attempt known as a PHISHING scam.

Here is a copy of the email, with the hyperlink de-activated:

From: Google Adwords-noreply [mailto:adwords-noreply@google.com] Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 9:28 AMTo: info@fireman247.comSubject: [PHISH] [SPAM] - Please Update Your Billing Information

------------------------Dear Google AdWords Customer!In order to update your billing information, please sign into your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com, and update yourbilling information. Your account will be reactivated as soon as you haveentered your payment details. Your ads will show immediately if youdecide to pay for clicks via credit or debit card. If you decide to payby direct debit, we may need to receive your signed debit authorizationbefore your ads start running, depending on your location. If youchoose bank transfer, your ads will show as soon as we receive yourfirst payment. (Payment options vary by location.)Thank you for choosing AdWords. We look forward to providing you withthe most effective advertising available.Sincerely,The Google AdWords Team------------------------This message was sent from a notification-only email address that doesnot accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message. If youhave any questions after following the steps above, please visit theGoogle AdWords Help Center athttps://adwords.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=8336&hl=en_US tofind answers to frequently asked questions and a 'contact us' link nearthe bottom of the page.

Now, I have de-activated the hyperlink in this email because I do not want any unsuspecting people to accidentally click it, however if you were to have held your mouse over the hyperlink that said http://adwords.google.com, and looked at the actual destination URL.

In this case, the destination URL from the hyperlink pointed towards: http://adwords.google.com.fr4xx.cn/select/Login/

Notice the very last part of the URL. Fr4xx.cn. That is the actual destination URL, not the sub domain prefix. So, while this URL does contain the adwords.google.com that we are all familiar with, the actual domain is the last part fr4xx.cn. This is obviously not Google and therefore a PHISING scam.

It’s always important to remember to check the sending email address. This is not necessarily the visible email address that is shown, but the actual email address. If it is not from Google, then it is not an official Google email. The display email address is often not the actual sending address, just like you might see your friends name in the reply to field instead of their email address. You can check the actual sending email address by looking at the header. Go to View/Options, and you will see the header information in a box called “internet headers:”

The bottom line here is that if there was a billing problem with your Google AdWords account, you could always login to your AdWords account and see the notice. This would be my advice, to always check your Google account directly and not rely on the wording of an email.

If you received this email today, or one similar to it, delete it. It’s a fake.

Google has been notified and the violating site has already been shut down. I’m sure new sites will arise and abuse this same scam, so be careful and remember to always check your Google account directly for account notices.

Having an experienced account manager can prevent abuse like this from happening to your account. Contact me today to find out how I can dramatically increase the ROI from your Google AdWords account.

Google Conversion Tracking Accuracy

Patrick Burke — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:54:00 +0000

Google Conversion Tracking Accuracy Problems

I always recommend, in fact, I always insist that my clients implement conversion tracking on their website. It is a fantastic way to evaluate the individual performance of keywords and their ability to “convert” into sales or leads. While it is a great tool for us to use in PPC management, it is important to remember that it is not always accurate.

In reality, Google admits that Conversion Tracking can be off by as much as 60% or more.

Why?

There are many factors that can cause errors in the Conversion Tracking reporting.
· The Automatic deletion of cookies by AntiVirus and other system tools
· Conflicts with Shopping cart functionality
· Bad script placement
· Conflicts with other Conversion Tracking scripts
· Slow Page Load Times
· Evil Voodoo Witch Doctors

I have a client whose Google Conversion Tracking reported 5 “conversions” yesterday. When I called him regarding another issue, I found out that he actually had 19 conversions from Google that day. He knew this because his back end reporting system was more accurate and could track the sales back to Google PPC specifically through the use of keyword level destination URL’s that I had coded with the source and keyword information. Conversion tracking for him only reports about 25% of the actual conversions.

I have another client whose Google account will only show about 5 conversions a month; however he actually receives dozens every day. These are the ones that really drive me crazy, since some conversion track, but most do not. It works, kind of, but not really. I could never use the Conversion Tracking data to actually manage his account. If I did, I would have considered many of his keywords as worthless when in actuality they perform very well.

What then is the solution?

My advice is to use any and all of the tools that you can to help give you the best picture possible regarding the success of your keywords and various campaigns.

Google Analytics is a great FREE tool that can really help paint a clear picture about traffic sources. Their E-Commerce tracking can be difficult for some designers to implement, however when done successfully, I have found it to be very accurate and provide excellent data regarding the ROI from ALL sources of traffic including PPC and Organic. If you have an E-Commerce website, I strongly encourage you to try and implement Google E-Commerce tracking. Even if you don’t have E-Commerce and harvest leads, Google Analytics allows you to set goals, which can also track all traffic sources for their ability to reach the set goal(s).

Another great solution might be your back end administration system. If your shopping cart is sophisticated enough to track traffic sources to sales, then you should definitely use this tool. Sometimes a great deal of work will be required in putting keyword level destination URL’s into the accounts with the necessary tracking information, however the data received is well worth the effort in the long run. These systems seem to be very accurate.

Live Person, or Live Help. Programs that allow you to interact with your web visitors often have decent tracking capabilities implemented. You can see which source sent the visitor to you, what the keyword was, if it was from PPC or organic, and even if they have been there before. I love Live Person and was one of their first BETA testers back when they first came out. It can also provide great data about traffic patterns. When I talk about Live Person to my clients, I always compare it to being a shop owner with a physical location who can actually watch his customers walk around the store and see what they look at and eventually buy. As I put it, it opens your eyes to your customers.

Shopping Cart Module Implementation. Many boxed shopping carts like OSCOMMERCE, CUBECART, ZENCART, and others, have the support of a developer community who create “Modules” that allow for the correct implementation of many features, including Conversion Tracking. I always recommend using the working module for your cart if available. The headaches that they save alone are worth the small fee that some might charge. I have found some clients who had horrible conversion tracking on their own, but once they used the module the accuracy greatly improved.

Finally, the bottom line is communication. If you use a PPC Marketing Management Consultant like me, then communicating with them regarding your data and theirs can provide some good insight into your strategies effectiveness. By combining all of the data sources and talking about the results, the real effectiveness of your campaigns can be realized, adjusted, and optimized for better performance.

If your looking to take your marketing campaigns to the next level, I provide a FREE consultation and reasonable rates based on your marketing budget. I invite you to contact me today to find out how I can help optimize your PPC campaigns: Patrick Burke (847) 483-4995.

Google, Yahoo, and MSN, all provide FREE conversion tracking scripts through their PPC advertising management interfaces.
For more information on Google Conversion Tracking Click Here.

Google Update - What's Your PageRank?

Patrick Burke — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:37:00 +0000

Yes, it's happened again. Google has once again performed an index update and many webmasters, site owners, and marketing guru's have started to panic.

This latest update will leave many websites with a new PageRank. Goggles PageRank is a gauge of how important and relevant your website is. 0 to 10, with most sites averaging 4.

The new Google update has substantially changed the way link popularity is judged against inbound links from popular social networking sources such as Blogs, Press Releases, and Article Directories.

Some websites may have even seen there page rank's go all the way to zero, due to the weight of social networking sources against the inbound links.

Why?

No longer is the simple fact of the article or blog post being on a popular network enough to count as a heavy link, now the weight of how many relevant websites who link to the post or include the article in their website is what holds the weight. In other words, just because your post or article is online is not enough to give it weight, it must now be validated by other websites as relevant.

Does this mean the power of the BLOG or Article Directory is dead?
No, it just means that more than ever the article or post needs to be relevant enough to generate links from other websites.

This is good news for the authors who take the time to write great posts, but bad news for the post hogs who simply post anything just to get the links.

As I have said a million times to my clients, the best method of search engine marketing is to create rich relevant content on a continuous basis. This latest Google updates is just another example of why this should become a regular part of your search engine marketing plan.

Contact me to find out more ways to maximize your website on the search engines.

SEO Tip - Keyword Density

Patrick Burke — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 04:21:00 +0000

What is Keyword Density? Keyword density is the amount, or percentage, of times that your keyword or keyphrases appear on your webpage.

Rooky copywriters and overaggressive webmasters frequently abuse this part of Search Engine Optimization, or they ignore it all together.

The bottom line: Think Home page and Services page are the most important pages to use your Keywords on. Basically you want these keywords and keyphrases to make up 5% of the total words on the page.

Don’t over do it! You could get de-listed from the search engines.

Definitely use them in your Headlines and sub headlines. They should also be a part of your title if possible and only if appropriate.

Please remember, I only recommend Ethical and Search Engine Approved methods for Optimizing your Website.

Need help? Call me at (847) 483-4995, I offer a Free Consultation and prices that will fit into your businesses online marketing budget.
Visit my website today for more details: Internet Consultant

SEO Tip - Keywords in Heading

Patrick Burke — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:53:00 +0000

Here is a basic SEO tip to help with your Search Engine Optimization Project.

This might seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many websites do not follow this very basic Optimization practice.

It is very important that your targeted Keyword or Key Phrase is present in the very first heading tag on the page, regardless of its type. If the keyword is also used as a first word, you will raise its prominence.

Syntax: <*h1>Put your keyword in the Heading <*/h1>, <*h3>Keywords here <*/h3>
remove the * for correct syntax.

For more SEO tips and resources on SEO visit my Internet Marketing Consultant Website

Google AdWords

Patrick Burke — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:29:00 +0000

Google AdWords

What Is Google AdSense?

Patrick Burke — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:05:00 +0000

Google Adsense is an easy way for any website owner to earn a nice income by simply placing ads on his or her website. The Google Adsense code automatically knows the subject of your webpage and places ads from the Google Adwords Program in your designated place. It couldn't be easier.

http://www.google.com/services/adsense_tour/page6.html

I have been using the Google Adsense since it started and one great tip is to make the ad match your webpage theme perfectly. Use the same color for text and links.

I also suggest removing the outside box by making the outside color the same as your page color.

The Search Box - Google offers a "search box" function you can add to your site, which will give you yet another opportunity to generate income.

Contact me for more great tips on how you can increase the revenue from your website.

SEO Tip – Keywords in your URL

Patrick Burke — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:09:00 +0000

My research into hundreds of Search Engines top-lists show that keyword presence in the URL is crucial for achieving high rankings in the SERP. (SERP = Search Engine Results Page)
Search engines are favorable towards keywords in the URL, however remember to use them sensibly and not to abuse them.

When optimizing a page for a key phrase, separate the keywords in the URL with a hyphen or an underscore, but do not write them in one word. Otherwise, the search engines will understand it as a single word. Yes, it’s true that the search engine result might even highlight part of your one long word as your keyword in Bold, however it still looks at it like one long word.

Here are some examples. Let’s say your targeted key phrase is “dreamweaver templates”
http://kki-templates.com/macromedia-dreamweaver-templates.php

“flash templates”
http://kki-templates.com/macromedia-flash-templates.php

“website design jobs”
http://www.kki-templates.com/website_design_jobs.php

The above example is underlined because it represents a hyperlink, there is an underscore in between the last three words website_design_jobs.php

Of course, it’s always a good idea to have your main key phrase in your original URL.
For example: “fuzzy blue widgets”
fuzzy-blue-widgets.whatever.com

You can always create a directory with your key phrase
fuzzy-blue-widgets.com/blue-widgets/fuzzy.html

For my clients who are very competitive in their search engine placement strategies, it is not uncommon for me to purchase new URL’s specifically targeting their key phrases. Not only does this technique provide a more powerful way to target their key phrases, it also helps create link popularity.

Search Engine Optimization is the single most important factor in driving traffic to your website. For a Free consultation, contact me today Patrick@digitalmediaproduction.com

PPC Tip 1 - Pay Per Click Marketing Tip – Watch your Competition’s Bid

Patrick Burke — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 03:15:00 +0000

Many small business owners who run their pay-per-click campaigns in-house are paying way too much for their top positions because they are simply not watching their competitor’s current bid. Often, there are huge gaps in the price between owning the top position and your competitors below you. These huge price gaps are needlessly depreciating your marketing budget and affecting your ROI.

Almost all pay-per-click search engines will automatically bid up to your pre-set amount, but none of them will automatically bid you back down. By simply paying attention to your competitors bid below you, and then conveniently adjusting your bid back down, you can save yourself unnecessarily high costs on competitive keywords and phrases. The money you save by reducing these price gaps will cause your marketing budget to stretch much further.

Maybe it’s time to bring in an expert. I offer all of my clients PPC account management services along with their marketing consultations. PPC Management Services start at only $300/month for local targeting with smaller budgets.

Contact me today at 1-847-483-4995, or by email: Patrick@digitalmediaproduction.com

25% of Web Users Have Stopped Buying Online

Patrick Burke — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 22:56:00 +0000

Identity theft is a huge problem, anyone who has been unlucky enough to have had it happen will testify to the fact. I speak from experience.

A recent report from "Consumer Reports WebWatch" finds that nearly a third of those surveyed say they've reduced their overall website use. A majority of users asked say they've stopped giving out personal information on the web. 25% say that they have stopped buying online.

What does this mean?

It means that online consumers have a legitimate fear of giving out their personal information to websites to the extent that a 1/4 of them will no longer make a purchase from online retailers.

ECommerce basic Tip #1 - Make your customer feel comfortable making a purchase from your online store.

All the marketing in the world will not help you if your potential customer does not feel comfortable making a purchase from your website. There are some basic things you can do to help with this problem.

Display your Security Certificate Seal prominently on every page of your website
Have a short paragraph on your front page describing your security methods with a link to your privacy policy. Have the same information available on the checkout page of your shopping cart.
Modernize the overall look of your website. Does your website look like it was built in 1996? A professional looking website can make a big difference to your customers.
Are you a member of the BBB? Put the seal on your website.
Display your contact information on every page. Customers are more likely to trust a website that has nothing to hide. I've had many clients who prefer to pay over the telephone. Plus, you address is a searchable keyphrase that can really help with localized searches.
How long have you been in business? How many customers have you served? Your longevity is a testament to your business practices. Promote the fact that you have been around for a while. There is a reason that McDonald's promoted "Over 1 Billion Served".

Once again, it may seem like common sense, however a majority of websites fail to deliver these very easy to do promotions that will help validate your business ethics.

24% Growth for Online Retailers in 2004

Patrick Burke — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 02:48:00 +0000

In an annual report published by Shop.org in conjunction with Forrester Research, online retailers did show a 24 percent increase in sales in 2004, while growth through 2005 is projected to achieve another 22 percent.

In comparison, traditional retail only saw a 7 percent increase in sales. In 2004, online sales accounted for 6.5 percent of total retail sales, which is up from 5.4 percent in 2003. Online sales in 2005 are expected to account for 7.7 percent of total retail.

While every category tracked in the study did experience growth, several really stood out. Health and Beauty increased 58 percent and Sporting Goods shot up 43 percent. Computer Hardware and Software tied Auto and Auto Parts, both growing by 13 percent.

Here is a figure that I will be showing all of my potential clients this year. Search Engine Marketing Traffic accounts for nearly half, or 43 percent, of new online retailers. Emails to house lists are seeing conversion rates of 4.3 percent.

How is your website doing? Maybe its time to call me for your Free Consultation, Patrick E. Burke (847) 483-4995, or Patrick@digitalmediaproduction.com

I offer Internet Marketing Consultation, Website Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, PPC Management, Website Design, Website Hosting, and Website Templates, all in-house.

Google Begins Website Update Reporting Service

Patrick Burke — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 02:01:00 +0000

Google unveiled today a new program called Sitemaps, where you can notify Google of any updates to your website so that it crawls your site immediately. What we are talking about is something very similar to RSS for entire websites. Webmasters will create an XML file that indicates recently changed or new pages that Google subscribes to.

Every webmaster will want to join Sitemaps as quickly as possible. It’s obvious that getting into Google as fast as possible is key to leaving your competition behind. Sitemaps should become part of every SEO company’s program. It’s Free, so the only downside is not using it.

Microsoft To Announce AdWords Competitor

Patrick Burke — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 03:45:00 +0000

MSN search officially launched in February of 2005, and along with it came Microsoft’s huge multi-million dollar advertising and publicity campaign. There is no doubt that Microsoft plans on taking the search industry by storm, however one piece of the pie has been missing, a non 3rd party advertising center.

Word has it that Microsoft plans on announcing a MSN Search-owned advertising service very soon. From what I have heard, the service will be similar to competing programs from Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.