Over the past 2 years the landscape of internet marketing has altered dramatically. If you think you know all about it – you are wrong. It is no longer possible to know all about it.
One of the best areas for everyone in marketing to catch up fast is Google Adwords. When I first looked at it, and played and tested – it seemed pretty straight forward. Create some ads, choose some keywords, set your bids and daily limits – and just wait for the business to “roar in”.
That may be true. But the real power of Google Adwords is in the stats that Google gives us (for free if you know where to look). Hidden deep in the bowels of Adwords – or in fact just by clicking 3 times in the right place – are stats that show you everything from your share of the total number of exposures, but the data to make your investments in Adwords multiply.
Well – that is if you follow the advertising rules created way back in the 19th century.
You know – run two adverts at the same time to determine which one works better? Then delete the worst performing, and test another one against the one that is left?
Google also allows you to track exactly WHICH keywords and which ads are working. It is a statisticians paradise. It was Deming that said “In God we trust – all others must provide data.” If no one is analyzing your data – you are leaving a stack of cash on the table.
I will report again soon on this – but for now I am happy to report that very simple rules followed have results in more clicks for clients at a LOWER total cost. I love both the strategic and tactical marketing needed to kick butt with adwords – and if you are managing your own – avoid the “set and forget” approach and give it some love. Or get some help.
The other techno toy I have been testing is the use of “silos” at part of website structuring. This is very simply a way of organizing your website/s in a very defined way – that gives exposure to a wider range of search terms and traffic. I have rebuilt an old site using that structure (and very little else) and am precisely recording what Google does. This site Blockednose.com was built in little over an hour. If you look carefully at it – you will see that it is composed of videos related to keywords that are placed in “silos” related to higher level keywords.
It is that “stacking” that apparently drives the organic traffic. The link above is the only link I will create for it – let’s see what traffic comes in – I will give you some stats in a week or so. I have some products relating to this condition (and others). and this site will serve to funnel traffic into the “sales site”.
Head Coaching
This seems a great place to remind business owners that the most effective way to change results in a business is to apply strategic thinking and detailed planning to the FIRST part of the important processes in your business.
And the very first part of that process is related to getting really clear on a couple of things.
You might be expecting me to rattle on about goals and such. But not today.
Today I am going to say that apart from having a coherent strategy for your business that will produce the result you desire, that the MOST important driver to success is the awareness, control and optimization of YOUR mental state.
If you are in a powerful state – you will do what is needed, when it is needed, to the standard required. And you will win at business. You are 100% responsible for your state – and the decision to own that responsibility fully – at the beginning of every single work day is the most powerful success tool you can operate.
If you are not in a powerful state – then every thought, decision and belief about what is even possible will be different to when you ARE in a powerful state. And that dramatically affects your actions, which affects your results, and feeds back to your state.
I enjoy the strategic and tactical aspects of business, but it is in the mental flexibility accountability that coaching can bring that the highest leverage is found. Can you recognize when your state is not powerful, and change it immediately?
Have a great week
James
