Many marketers are moving away from using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising in lieu of more cost-effective lead generation methods, like blogging, social media marketing, and creating excellent offer content that drives net new leads and reconversions. If you're concerned about the cost, you might be pleasantly surprised to learn it's not going to make a big dent in your budget -- this will be far less competitive than other keywords, because there's far less competition driving up the cost-per-click (CPC). Bidding on Your Own Branded Terms. Yikes! MORE >>

Facebook advertising works on a bidding model similar to Google AdWords. You bid on the price you are willing to pay to have your ad displayed, and then you are either charged when someone clicks on your ad (cost per click), or you are charged per 1,000 people who see your ad using the CPM model (cost per thousand impressions). purchased product? Optimize your bid price and reach to get the best price. Decide how much you are going to spend per day and for the whole campaign. Set Up Your Goals. newsletter sign-up? MORE >>

'If you’re a PPC veteran, it’s tempting to devote all your time to the bigger picture and finding creative new ways to drive cheap, conversion-friendly clicks. These customers who are much further down the sales cycle are much more likely to purchase from you if they walk in your store first. Users may click on 4-5 different ads, use your site to do some research, and then purchase from whoever has the lowest price. There you go, four great tips on increasing your sales while lowering your cost per conversion without any fluff or jargon-filled explanations. MORE >>

Don't be afraid to rethink your marketing channels if you discover the best objective you can hope to achieve isn't worth your time. It might even give them a reason to stay connected between purchases. Historically, most businesses have paid for media in terms of cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM). And Google's AdWords is likely the most famous cost-per-click (CPC) service out there. But don't forget cost-per-action/acquisition (CPA). Image by PhotoJonny via Flickr. by Tim Peter. How much from Google? Can't imagine it? MORE >>

In addition, waiting until your project was 90% complete before including design meant that often the message and execution simply didn’t make sense to the consumer, so significant money, time, and energy were wasted for a project whose end result didn’t move the needle on consumer awareness, brand loyalty, or purchase behavior. The emergence of Nielsen data made advertising efforts slightly more measurable, but they were at best an estimate and typically came back a minimum of one week after the ads actually ran. But (isn''t there always a but ?). New School: Got a Story? MORE >>