Month: October 2014

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Google AdWords’ First Page Bid Strategy

Google Partner Badge
McCord Web Services is a Google Partner.

Using a bid strategy in Google AdWords to automatically place bids to move your ads to the first page of ad results seems like a good suggestion, but be careful, in the accounts we have tested this bid strategy on, clicks have fallen to more than half when compared to auto-bid and no bid strategy settings.

In fact monitoring numerous client accounts, I have personally found that not only have clicks nearly dropped to half, but that clicks were sometimes as much as 30% more without an increase in lead conversions.

When you enact a bid strategy in Google AdWords, it is very important to closely monitor and be ready to roll back if you don’t get the results you were expecting.

For one client we did see a strong increase in lead conversions in the first 15 days of use, but by the end of a 30 period we saw a 50% drop in clicks and no substantial increase in conversions. Rolling back the account to remove first page bid strategy and using auto-bidding with a bid cap to boost clicks to appear on the typical average first page bid has provided much better results for the clients we manage.

It is always important to test new features in AdWords, but not to take a set it and forget it strategy. If you need a proactive, smart, and knowledgeable Google AdWords account manager, I invite you to find out more about the services my firm offers for Google AdWords account set up, optimization, and routine management.

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Google Pushes Google My Business Forcing Google+ Pages

The Google+ Carrot and Stick in AdWords.
The Google+ Carrot and Stick in AdWords.

Google will simply not give up on Google+. They have tried over the years to push individuals and businesses into Google+ and now have take the original GMail model to try one more time to build growth in this social media network that simply has not caught on.

Google’s most recent push started in October using the AdWords platform to require participation on a Google+ page in order to use their AdWords location extensions. Here’s how they are doing it:

1. If you did not already have a Google+ location page tied to your same Google AdWords login or used manual address extensions, Google stated that you would not be able to use location extensions anymore.

2. Google then auto-created a Google+ page for every Google AdWords login and automatically tied it to Google AdWords. Too bad if you already had a Google+ page under a different user name, for it to show in AdWords the page had to be tied to your AdWords login. Welcome to your new page.

3. What is even more complicated is that actually Google has auto-created two pages for every AdWords account; a location page with map that points to your website and is pointed to from your AdWords ads AND a new Google+ page that they are hoping will become a new social media portal for your business and a central location for your online reviews.

This heavy handed approach shows how serious that Google is about growing Google+ pages and location identification for local advertising. Google took the exact same model when GMail came out. Google required that to use GMail, you had to set up a Google account forcing everyone to open a GMail account. They are doing it again to force businesses to utilize location specificity via Google+ via AdWords.

If Google thinks Google+ is so important you may want to reconsider if you should consider it important too. We offer minimally priced options to have content created to keep your Google+ page updated. Just a consideration if you are going to embrace what Google thinks is key to them.

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More Things You Can Do to Promote Your B&B Inn

Fall Leaves Along the Hudson River
Fall Leaves Along the Hudson River

Continued from Monday on how to promote your Bed and Breakfast Inn.

4. Pictures Have Power.

The web is now a very visual medium. Make sure that you have videos, images, and pictures that show people and connect your B&B to the local marketplace. Great shots would be shopping local for the food you will be serving. Taking on a cause like supporting local farmers, serving only local honey or artisan cheeses. When you snap a pic and share it on Facebook or your website, you are able to communicate in a moment who you are and what you do as well as put a powerful face behind your message.

5. Make it Personal.

People who stay at a bed and breakfast want to feel like part of your family – well kind of but not too much. I do feel that it is important to put a personal face to your inn, but without overly sharing. Remember, guests although they do want to connect, they do not want to know every detail, they are still mainly at your inn to visit the area not be on a “family vacation” where you are their family. Over sharing can work against you so keep it professional on your website and at their visit. Be the helpful “aunt” or “uncle”.

We had one inn where the owner tried to have a political conversation on a hot topic at the breakfast table and another where the owner simply served food and let guest chat amongst themselves. I personally found the chatting with guests more pleasurable than created conversations hosted by the innkeeper. Keep in mind what YOUR guests want and like and cater to that.

If you need help crafting the perfect sharable message, are too busy now to maintain your blog and Facebook presence, look no further than www.McCordWeb.com to assist you in promoting your local inn.

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Five Things You Can Do to Promote Your Bed and Breakfast Inn

 

Old Inn in Rhinebeck, NY
Old Inn in Rhinebeck, NY

I have just returned from a fall leaf trip in New York along the Hudson River valley. The leaf colors were beautiful and the area is a wonderful place to visit. While on travel, I stayed at two bed and breakfasts and had a chance to chat with two innkeepers about their business promotion. Here’s a few things I learned and a few things I’d like to share with their community.

1. Social Media is a Must Do.

If you are running a bed and breakfast, you’ve just got to bite the bullet and be active on social media. Particularly this means Facebook for you. You should be posting pics of happy guests, group shots, snaps of the food you serve in the morning and pics of places guests can visit when they stay with you.

2. TripAdvisor Can Make or Break Your Business.

If you are not watching TripAdvisor daily, you’d better be making that a website to check daily. Make sure your listing is up-to-date, that you have good quality images of your inn, and that you respond to reviews in a professional way. Make sure to ask your guests to write a review for TripAdvisor. We actually chose the bed and breakfasts we stayed at based on the reviews on TripAdvisor. One had over 200 reviews and had set a personal goal to get 300 in a month.

3. Blogging Can Be Good for Your Business.

Sounds like just one more thing to do that you don’t have time for when you run a busy inn, right? Think again, blogging can be very, very good for your business. As you will act as a concierge when your guests come to stay with you, you’d better be showing you know the area and are the local expert on food, places to visit, and things to do. Blogging is a great way to show your expertise as well as to beef up the content on your website for Google and Bing. Plus these posts will provide value when people visit your website from TripAdvisor.

Come by and visit on Wednesday for the rest of my promotion tips.