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Jun 13

Why Are My Google Ads Wasting Money?

By Internet marketing, Marketing Tips

As a digital marketing agency, we understand how competitive internet marketing can be. As online budgets increase and more money is being spent on PPC platforms like Google Adwords, we are seeing an increasing amount of accidental budget waste in our audits. Here’s the most common cause for inefficient ad budgets and how to identify if you have a problem.

How Do I Tell If There’s A Problem?

The most obvious way to tell if there’s an issue is to check if your campaign is providing leads at an affordable ROI. Outside of this, there are two easy methods to tell if you are accidentally wasting your money on purchasing irrelevant keyword phrases.

1. A Low Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

The click-through rate is a measure of how frequently an ad is clicked when it’s seen (clicks/impressions). In addition to reducing the cost-per-click over time, your click-through-rate is an important measurement for the relevance of targeting. If your ads are accidentally being served up for irrelevant phrases, they are less likely to be clicked, which would reduce the CTR. For reference, the industry average Google Search CTR is now in the 1-2% range, although we generally see campaigns in the 2-5% range. 

2. Check The Search Terms Tab 

Did you know that the Search Terms list is actually different than the keyword list? Depending on the match type that’s used, it’s possible for these lists to be completely different. For example, if I decide to purchase the keyword “storage”, I may accidentally purchase anything from “data storage”, “storage units” “bedroom storage”, and “cloud storage”.

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Apr 09
internet marketing company advise on mobile friendly sites

How To Tell If Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly In Under A Minute

By Internet marketing, Marketing Tips, Mobile Marketing

As a digital marketing agency, we understand having a mobile-friendly website is becoming more important than ever. In fact, in 2017 48% of consumers began their Google product searches using a smartphone. Google has even recently stated that their algorithm will favour mobile-optimized websites over non-mobile friendly websites in their rankings for mobile users. This means that your business can be ranking 2nd on a desktop or laptop computer but only 6th on a smartphone. Desktop and mobile ranking algorithms may be completely separate and businesses should ensure their websites are mobile-friendly in order to stay relevant and at the top of Google search results.

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Sep 28

Internet Marketing: A Site Transition That Didn’t Drop Rankings?!

By Internet marketing, SEO

Launching a new website? Worried about how your site transition will affect your rankings? Our internet marketing consultants highlight the main issues with site transitions and review how our internet marketing company got a clients site transition to actually increase rankings.

The Struggle With Site Transitions

Recently our digital marketing consultants wrote up a case study of how we rescued a client’s search engine rankings after a disastrous transition to a new site. The story details how our internet marketing company not only fixed the problem but took all of their 25+ locations back to page one and took them even higher up in the top 5 in organic and map rankings. Read this internet marketing case study.

As a digital marketing agency, we know site transitions often go dreadfully wrong. Our marketing consultants have said that your rankings after launching a new site are kind of like riding a new roller coaster; you know you’re going to go down, just not for how long or how soon you’re going back up.

Roller Coaster: digital marketing agency site transition analogy

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Jul 25

6 #Canada150 Campaigns That Marketing Consultants Agree Nailed it and Failed it

By Branding, Digital Storytelling, Internet marketing

The Marketing Garage was recently interviewed by the Business News Network about advertising campaigns for Canada’s 150th anniversary. The article reviews numerous marketing campaigns that did well and nailed it, along with campaigns that didn’t meet up to the rest and failed it.

In the article, our owner and digital marketing consultant Bob Nunn, provides his expert opinion as a brand mechanic and explains “If a brand is going to ‘rent the interest’ of a cultural event, the campaign needs to match what the brand promise is all about.”

Read the full article here:

Digital Marketing Agency Consultants Interviewed in BNN Read More

Jun 12

An Internet Marketer’s View On 3 Over-Hyped Website Trends.

By Internet marketing, Marketing Tips, Website Design

The website industry is ever-evolving. As trends come and go, web masters will jump onto new developments and stick to them for various reasons. Some are intrigued by the ingenuity, some the practicality, and some the performance. As a result many ideas that become staples in professional web design will turn away users who aren’t interested in the industry on a professional level.

Below are 3 popular trends you have probably seen that turn visitors off and can hinder the performance of your website.

1. Sliders Or Slideshows

The tried and true image slider is one of the most commonly used features on home pages across the web.

Why Web Designers Love Them:

The image slider allows a designer to display multiple products and/or messages in one location. If your business offers three main services a designer goes to the logical solution of making one slide for each service and rotating them indefinitely. This will ensure users get equal exposure to each service.

Why Your Users Hate Them:

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May 21

10 (Slightly Late) Internet Marketing Trends For 2015

By Internet marketing

Yeah I know what you’re thinking. It’s May. Aren’t you little late with your 2015 predictions? Well maybe but…

1) we like to be different and thought we’d avoid the flood of posts at the new year and…

2) we thought we’d be more accurate this way.

So again this year, back in January, we gathered four passionate internet marketing consultants at our favourite hangout across from the Marketing Garage so that we could present you our 10 top internet marketing trends for 2015.

Around the table were:

  • Bob Nunn, Internet Marketing Consultant and co-founder of The Marketing Garage
  • Matt Colangelo, Digital Marketing Consultant and owner of his local search firm
  • Mike Granger, Pay-per-click Marketing Consultant
  • Skylar Burns, Website Mechanic

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Dec 23

Conversions VS ROI: 4 Tips When Evaluating PPC Internet Marketing

By Internet marketing

Are you running a pay-per-click campaign and have questions about whether or not it’s working? When clients ask me how to evaluate a PPC campaign, I generally give the conversion rate as the short answer. For most clients nothing is more important than generating sales or leads. Although using this rate as the sole indicator of performance makes sense in theory, PPC account managers and clients would be making a mistake by ignoring other performance indicators. Here are the 4 reasons the conversion rate shouldn’t be the only way performance is evaluated.

4 Reasons Conversion Rates Don’t Tell the Whole Picture

1.   Not All Sites Can Accurately Track Conversions

Not all websites have the functionality to properly track conversions. Some websites have constraining content management systems or lack a webmaster with the ability to add tracking code to buttons or thank you pages. When a website has a limited ability to track conversions it may be more effective to focus on the behavior of the paid visitors such as the average time spent on a page, or as I outlined in a recent blog post; the click-through-rate of the pay-per-click campaign itself.

2.   The Majority Of Conversions That Begin Online, Finish Offline

Consumers don’t always finish the entire conversion process online. Site visitors may instead decide to convert offline via phone call or by visiting the business in person. Google found that as many as 80% of shoppers will research online before making a purchase, however only 44% will finish the entire process online. Additionally, Read More

Dec 02

4 Reasons the Click-Through-Rate Matters in PPC Internet Marketing

By Internet marketing

How do you know your pay-per-click campaign is paying off? And what should you be looking for when evaluating a PPC campaign? When I ask new PPC clients this question, many focus solely on a low cost-per-click or the number of valuable conversions such as purchases, and form completions. And at the end of the day they would be right to an extent. Nothing matters more than visitors taking valuable actions on your website at an efficient cost.

However these measures can’t be relied on to tell the whole picture. PPC account managers would be making a big mistake by ignoring other important factors such as the click-through-rate (CTR).

What is a Click-Through-Rate?

The click-through-rate is a measure of how frequently an ad is clicked compared to how often it is seen. The CTR is calculated by:

CTR Formula For Internet Marketing

Average click-through-rates vary greatly by industry, targeted geography, and competition. According to Google, the average industry CTR is between 1-2%.

Why Do Click-Through-Rates Matter for PPC?

In Google Adwords click-through-rates matter for 4 main reasons; the CTR is an indicator of strength of messaging, accurate targeting, can assist in guessing offline conversions, and maintaining a high CTR results in cheaper clicks.

1.   CTRs Can Indicate Strong and Weak Messaging

Click-through-rates are useful in understanding how strong your advertising message is. Since CTRs are calculated by the frequency an ad is clicked when seen, it’s clear that ads featuring more enticing messaging will be clicked more frequently. This can be an especially useful tool when trying to understand what messages actually matter to your audience (You may be surprised!).

2.   High CTRs Signify Accurate Targeting

The stronger your message is, the more frequently it will be clicked when seen. However, what happens if the audience you’re targeting is too wide? No matter how strong your message is, if it is being seen by the wrong audience it will receive a low CTR.

Read More

Oct 30

2 Points On The Impact Of Internet Marketing On Elections

By Internet marketing

This blog post will share insight from a wee bit of data on local elections underscoring the importance of having an online presence in getting you and your product elected and, secondly, using online testing to make sure you’re saying something interesting with your traditional media spend.

No Internet Marketing = Less Chance of Victory

Being a good democratic citizen, I voted in the municipal election of our little town north of Toronto on Monday. Sadly, it wasn’t easy. We had to choose one of two candidates for mayor. That was easy. (No Rob Ford to consider here : ) But then I had to pick eight town councilors out of 28 candidates! I’m sure like many people I could come up with two, three or four but eight!? That was tough. And, naturally I wanted to make an informed voting decision. So before I headed off to the voters booth, I did what hordes of consumers do when they’re trying to make a more informed buying decisions these days, I turned to the internet. I wasn’t alone. Here’s the search volume for the term ‘municipal election’ in Ontario using Google Trends. Internet searches municipal elections My town didn’t make it easy to find a list of candidates but I persisted and found a list. Then checked which had websites, read about them, got to know them a bit and went off and made my-now-informed voting decision. Done! I checked out the results in the morning but then, because I’m a curious data-driven internet marketing consultant, I correlated the results with own my experience as a voter / consumer. That’s where it got interesting: There were 6 incumbents and 22 new candidates vying for those 8 spots. Of those 22 new candidates 15 had websites. Amazingly in this day & age. 7 – or almost one-third! –  did not have a website or any other internet marketing. How was I – or you? – to make an informed buying decision without a website to learn about them and their views. From the flyers sent in the mail? Obviously that’s a good way to reach some folks but for me – and most consumers these days – sorry that literature went straight to the trash with the other junk mail. 5 of the 6 incumbent candidates were re-elected. 3 new candidates were also elected. All three of those new candidates had websites and other internet marketing including banners on local news sites. How did the seven who did not have sites do? Read More

Oct 24

Searching for an Internet Marketing Job in the Toronto Area?

By Internet marketing No Comments

The Marketing Garage is a new marketing firm founded by industry veterans Bob Nunn and Brian Larter. It combines two existing businesses, Larter Marketing and Brand Mechanics. Based in Aurora, just north of Toronto, we provide online marketing strategies that move the needle. Our audits help our clients get more for their marketing money by uncovering the quick wins that get them fame, found and fans online. We pop the hood on their online marketing and then use over 90 marketing tools, best practices and checklists to combine the best of online marketing with an award-winning history of building strong, sustainable brands for the likes of Auto Trader, Harley-Davidson, Future Shop and more. The Marketing Garage is also an entirely new approach to the old ad agency model in that it’s a collective (or ‘guild’ as we call it) of independent experts in 7 different but complementary disciplines working under one roof (aka ‘The Garage’).

Aurora, Ontario; home of The Marketing Garage

 

We’re Hiring!

We’re looking to hire a ‘junior brand mechanic’. Someone who will join us in this unique venture and help us build on the clients and process we’ve created so far. We’re looking for a technical person who has a marketing view on life or a marketer with a deep technical side, love of analysis and metrics. You’ll be working directly with clients and have a diverse range of activities in this energetic, free-flowing environment. You’ll be a problem detective searching for that opportunity to take client’s internet marketing to a new level.

 

Position: Entry Level SEO / Internet Marketer:

‘Junior Brand Mechanic’*

 

Job Responsibilities

  • Implement and manage SEO, PPC and Online Marketing Campaigns

  • Analyze web analytics / metrics through various tools to Read More

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