Are you new to PPC (Pay-Per-Click) digital advertising campaigns? Or, maybe the time and money you’ve invested in your PPC campaigns haven’t been paying off? At Interactive Media Group, we have run hundreds of successful PPC campaigns. Take our advice: Here are the top 5 PPC campaign mistakes we see all the time that you and your business should avoid at all costs: Launching a Campaign Without a Clear Strategy It’s impossible to measure success without defining clear goals. Ask yourself these two questions: What is your primary goal for this campaign? Who is your target market to reach that goal? Then set up an action plan of specific tasks that will help you reach success. Taking a “Do-it-all” Approach As you may already know, PPC marketing is much more complex than it seems. You need to make sure that you have access to a digital marketing consultant. Effective campaigns address the 3 basic types of PPC traffic separately: search traffic, display traffic, and social traffic. Delivering different ad experiences to each type of traffic increases your odds of success. Failure to Identify a Realistic Budget Think of your first few campaigns as tests. They may not be profitable, because you don’t know what will work and what won’t. Your budget shouldn’t be too low or too high. Your budget should be enough to test your campaign for future optimization. Having Unrealistic Expectations You may expect to see immediate results from your PPC ad campaign, especially if your website is optimized for SEO. Be patient for the first few weeks of your new campaign. Not Testing Your Conversion Funnel Make sure everything is working correctly by using test users. Have them experiment, use the site to perform tasks, and don’t forget to have them test the site from a variety of devices! Need help from the experts? Contact us at i@theimgweb.com.

What makes an effective web design? Is it the visual elements, or is it the functionality? Truth be told it is a combination of both. As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Websites with great usability and function tend to perform better on Google than those just with beautiful design. We want to show you 10 ways to improve your existing website to ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck. Purpose and Function An exceptional website has a clear purpose, and the function is evident and intuitive. The design of every element and how they come together as a whole should be derived from the purpose and function of the website. Communication and Interaction Internet users want information quickly. To ensure you are providing lightning-fast information, you should be clear and concise, using headlines, and subtitles to provide valuable information. Links to the email address or contact form, live chat, and feedback form should also be easily accessible. Intuitive Navigation Navigation is a core element in which your website is built upon. The navigation should make sense to your visitors whatever path they wish to take. Navigating from point A to C based on the customer’s journey should flow smoothly without any barriers or friction. Ensure your customers can find the information they are looking for within 3 clicks or less. Design Consistency Each design element should match throughout the entire website. This means your headlines, colors, and so forth should all have the same look and feel. Take the time to plan out every detail to ensure your message is consistent throughout. F-Pattern design & Grid-Based Layout Ensure your page elements are arranged in a way that is natural for the eye. Studies have shown that people view pages in an “F” shaped pattern. Arrange your content based on a grid to create content that is both aligned and balanced. Typography and Readability The text is one of the most vital elements to a website, providing users with necessary information, and providing content for SEO. Create visually engaging type by using attractive and readable typefaces. Color palette and imagery Use a well thought out color pallet to enhance your user’s experience. Use contrasting colors for the background and text, while implementing vibrant colors for buttons and headlines to draw the user’s attention. Mobile-friendliness The number of devices that users are viewing websites from has increased dramatically over the past few years. Ensure your website is built with a responsive layout. Loading speed Take the time to ensure your website is loading at lightning speed. User’s hate when it takes more than just a few seconds to load a page. Learn more by contacting us at i@theimgweb.com.

Dacia and Facebook Dacia is one of Europe’s fastest growing car brands. The Goal: Their aim was to grow their brand and to generate more leads. The Result: 60,000 extra cars sold in the last three years. That’s a huge success! How did they do it? 1. They decided to use social media. 2. They chose Facebook to get their message across. 3. They targeted desktop-using customers and customers who primarily used their smartphones. 4. The tool they used was Facebook’s boosted posts. This allowed them to test the market and find out where their potential customers were and the best time to place an ad in front of them. The Girl Scouts and Twitter The Girl Scouts are well-known for making and selling their own cookies to raise funds for the local community. The Goal: To increase downloads of their mobile app. The Result: Nearly 20k extra downloads as a direct result of their Twitter campaign! How did they do it? 1. They decided to use social media. 2. They chose Twitter to do their promotion. 3. They added images to the app to show how delicious and inviting their cookies were. 4. They used the Twitter App Card so customers seeing their Tweet could access the app directly from their Tweet. Simple!

On the internet, standing out poses a daunting challenge, and at the same time, the best opportunity for creativity and bringing some attention to your site. Adding the extra “POW” to your content will pique a customer’s’ curiosity, build their interest, and over the course of a few transactions, earn their loyalty. This is achieved through web content that goes far beyond ordinary but without all of the sensory overload. Each aspect of your site should have its own purpose—from the background to the logo to the informative blog. Every part is a solid brick in the foundation of your establishment’s site. Here are some possible “add-ons” to consider to make your site stand out: – Demo/explainer videos – Client testimonials – A page for reviews – Informational text that actually informs—as opposed to simply luring the client – Interactive questionnaire – Easy-to-follow graphics – A healthy combination and balance of “all-the-above” – The compelling story of your business began and most importantly, where it’s going And don’t forget a user-friendly “contact us” page or even an option for a live Chat with a knowledgeable representative from your company? You’re only limited to your own and your team’s imagination. So the time has come to set that staff meeting and do a plus/delta on your site’s current features. What’s working and drawing in an audience, and what’s not working? What is the purpose of each and every feature of your site? What are some viable changes that can be made? Who is your target audience? How can you make your site not only engaging but also user-friendly? As you can tell, some guidance from an experienced digital marketing consultant should come in handy. You are the experts in your product or service; so allow some room for the marketing experts to help. Essential Questions to ask about Customer Experience User experience with your site can make or break your business. Think about it. A slow interface, a shopping cart that’s difficult to navigate, or even one small glitch can drive traffic away and steer potential customers toward the next result that showed up on the list of search results. So how do you keep this from happening? Working with a knowledgeable and experienced team of designers and developers can make quite a difference in creating the best customer experience possible. When searching for such a team, you might need to keep a few ideas in mind such as – Can they reduce my site’s loading time? – Can they create engaging content that includes images? – Can they strike a balance between SEO and treating my audience like “real people”? – Can they build a user-friendly check-out? – Can they build a user-friendly customer service Chat and/or Email page? Thus, looking at these many aspects related to a customer’s experience is as vital to us as it is to you. Helping your business to thrive is our ultimate goal and mission. By joining forces with your team, we can assist you in improving the customer’s experience. What if you’re just barely getting started? We can build on that foundation as well. Either way, we’ll explore several options, analyze data, and minimize as much trial-and-error as possible to get your site running as quickly and smoothly as possible. So don’t worry about a design that’s full of bells and whistles as opposed to substantial, engaging content and usability. Your clients are the bosses, and we’ll consider both their needs and your expectations of what makes a great, user-friendly site. Therefore, there’ll be no more worries about dead links or useless features. Would you like to find out more about what we can design for you? Contact us at i@theimgweb.com to learn more or visit our website.

Are you getting a return on investment (ROI) on your search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns? You’re not alone if you’re not sure how to answer that question. Indeed, 40% of marketers say proving the ROI of their marketing activities is their biggest marketing challenge according to HubSpot. But measuring the ROI of your SEO efforts is possible, and we’re here to help you do just that. Here are 3 things that need to be in place in order to calculate ROI: 1. The right attribution model. Attribution models are the basis for allocating credit to each marketing channel. There is no right or wrong attribution model. Each one is different and comes with its own strengths. We’ll help you find the model that’s the best fit for your business. 2. Google Search Console and Google Analytics. You may already have these tools in place for your website(s), and if so, that’s a great start. GSC is a key SEO tool for capturing and understanding website metrics. And the data from Google Analytics (GA) or a comparable website analytics package is crucial for understanding ROI. 3. Marketing automation and CRM. These tools supplement website analytics data by providing data on individual buyers. This helps you ascertain the lifetime value of individual customers, which in turn help you determine the lifetime value of a particular marketing channel. At Interactive Media Group, we understand that business owners like you don’t have the time to do all of this. We can help you get these important tracking tools in place. Contact us today at i@theimgweb.com to get started.