WebMarketCentral

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Why do PPC costs keep rising? Eyeing Prices as Search Keeps Growing by eMarketer This article summarizes a recent SEMPO study detailing "multiple reasons for SEM spending growth, including advertiser demand, rising keyword and pay-per-click campaign costs, small-to-midsized business SEM use and increased behavioral and demographic targeting."

Marketing Budget 20

Marketing Budget Web 2.0 Research Paid Search Agency 20

WebMarketCentral

SEPTEMBER 14, 2007

MarketingSherpa recently published its Search Marketing Benchmark Guide for 2008 , providing data on cost per click (CPC), conversion rates, SEO and other key online marketing metrics.

Cost Per Click 20

Cost Per Click Advertising Benchmark Search Marketing CPC 20

WebMarketCentral

DECEMBER 21, 2009

For consultants or agencies managing multiple sites, the cost is easy to justify by spreading it over several clients. SEMRush offers a powerful suite of SEO and search marketing tools , particularly for those who've already done the basic SEO work and perhaps have an AdWords program running, but want to take efforts to the next level.

SEO 20

SEO Tools SEM Advertising Agencies 20

WebMarketCentral

JULY 9, 2008

No travel costs. Companies could also spread out the cost by selling virtual booth space to channel or technology partners. For a large enterprise hosting its own user group or other forum, that's competitive with the cost of a live event—and again, with no travel costs or travel-related lost productivity.

Webcast 20

Webcast Trade Show Advertising Agencies Peer-to-peer 20

WebMarketCentral

JANUARY 11, 2010

Staying in touch with customers on Twitter is not only more real-time than many other techniques, it's also far more cost-effective than direct mail, attending trade shows, picking up the phone, or even maintaining a customer newsletter.

Twitter 20

Twitter Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Business 20

WebMarketCentral

JANUARY 5, 2010

Shooting a basic home-video style piece with a Flip Mino or Samsung SMX-F34 (my personal favorite YouTube-friendly camcorder) may not project sufficient sophistication, while a professionally-produced video costing $8,000-$10,000 or more is simply not in the budget.

Budget Programs 20

Budget Programs Video Marketing Screencast Youtube 20

WebMarketCentral

FEBRUARY 16, 2009

The cost of paid clicks for your company name is usually low, and the conversion rate—assuming a well-designed landing page—is generally very high. Under Add or Remove Columns, be sure to include the Conversions, Conversion Rate and Cost/Conversion fields. Periodically check and clean your keyword lists.

SEM 20

SEM Long Tail Marketing Optimization Campaigns 20

WebMarketCentral

AUGUST 31, 2009

It's a provocative piece to be sure, but while I hesitate to attack statistical evidence with the anecdotal, my experience has been that when one accounts for the reasons PPC will always cost more than SEO , the actual labor costs of the two activities (when done right) are pretty darn close.

Paid Content 20

Paid Content Paid Search Agency Best Practices Advertising Agencies 20

WebMarketCentral

DECEMBER 22, 2008

Time magzine reports that "GM's combined pension and retiree-health-care costs run $7 billion annually and have cost GM more than $103 billion over the past 15 years," as employees can potentially collect more than $100,000 in healthcare benefits after leaving the company.

Social Media 20

Social Media Web 2.0 Media Blogger 20

WebMarketCentral

NOVEMBER 7, 2007

But because search is extremely measurable, bad results are front and center: low click-through rates, high cost per click, and worst of all, poor conversion. If you produce a lousy campaign in a medium that's difficult to measure (e.g. TV or print), it may not be apparent. Looking for a new career? I was asked to fix it or shut it down.

SEM 20

SEM Budget Programs Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 20

WebMarketCentral

OCTOBER 7, 2009

Search Ad Quality Score 101, Part 2 by Search Engine Watch Ron Jones explains how to increase your quality score in AdWords, which gets you a higher ad position at a lower cost. For any keyword, the tool displays statistics like the average cost per click and number of clicks per day.

Adwords 20

Adwords PPC Tactics Landing Pages 20

WebMarketCentral

AUGUST 28, 2008

This would have been a $200,000 web page if an agency produced it, but by developing it in "open source" fashion through input from their users, they (presumably) slashed that cost significantly.

Creativity 20

Creativity Paid Search Agency B2B Marketing Advertising Agencies 20

WebMarketCentral

JULY 30, 2009

I mean, it's all right there on your campaign management screen: how much you spent, how many conversions (leads) you got, and your cost per lead. Consider, for example, a tactic viewed by many marketers as extremely measurable: Google AdWords. Simple, right? Balderdash. Much has been written about the weaknesses of last click attribution.

Social Media 20

Social Media Paid Content ROI Media 20

WebMarketCentral

AUGUST 21, 2007

While larger redesign projects produced a higher return in dollars, smaller projects produced a higher percentage return—at lower cost and lower risk. How to keep costs down Use interactivity and integration with back-end systems (e.g. lead collection straight into a CRM application) wisely; this is a major cost driver.

Forrester 20

Forrester ROI Webcast Marketing Websites 20

WebMarketCentral

OCTOBER 9, 2007

From my own experience, here are a few basic practices to help maximize conversion rates (which average 3% according to Dan's article) and minimize your cost per conversion: Keep content short. Dan Briody recently wrote a helpful article for Inc. Provide a clear call to action. Offer an incentive for response.

SEM 20

SEM Conversion Rate Conversion Adwords 20

WebMarketCentral

JANUARY 15, 2007

Google AdWords: Keyword Tool Enter a search phrase, and this Google tool will display related keywords along with advertiser competition and search volume; average cost per click and ad position by bid amount; and global search volume trends over time. Note that this tool works much better with IE than with FireFox.

Tools 20

Tools Cost Per Click Marketing Websites Ad Frequency 20

WebMarketCentral

FEBRUARY 13, 2009

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated the total cost of the bill at $3.27 House has passed the economic stimulus package, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (that's a link to the full 647-page PDF document, which isn't as easy to find as you might think).

Act-On 20

Act-On Tagging Spending Course 20

WebMarketCentral

AUGUST 1, 2007

It's not the the most effective tactic, but nearly everyone does this because it costs virtually nothing. Having your campaign cited in online industry trade online publications is also a highly effective viral promotion tactic—and again, it costs nothing other than the PR legwork.

Viral Marketing 20

Viral Marketing Lead Generation Promotion Web 2.0 20

WebMarketCentral

SEPTEMBER 5, 2006

He provides practical and highly readable observations and advice on topics such as drop-shipping, low-cost but high-impact marketing techniques, blogging, affiliate marketing, and free or low-cost business tools.

Buzz 20

Buzz Viral Marketing CMO Small Business Marketing 20

WebMarketCentral

MAY 18, 2007

Low-Involvement B2B Products and Services For low-cost products and services, or infrequently-purchased higher cost offerings, one frequently used method is offering discounts. Here are four tactics to enhance loyalty and positive word-of-mouth advertising from your best customers.

Enterprise Management 20

Enterprise Management Loyalty Marketing Management Web 2.0 20

WebMarketCentral

AUGUST 14, 2008

Thanks to improved quality of sites in the network, along with other factors, the content network can now provide reasonably good lead generation performance often for considerably less than the cost of search-driven conversions. Particularly for large, complex campaigns, automation software can improve efficiency and reduce total costs.

Search Engine Marketing 20

Search Engine Marketing Search Marketing Marketing Analytics Tools Paid Search Agency 20

WebMarketCentral

JUNE 25, 2007

MediaPost noted that Z-D has " cut costs and reformulated itself as a Web-focused publisher" over the past few years. Content has value (though possibly less on the web than in print). Printing has diminishing value, particularly in the technology publication space.

CMO 20

CMO Planning Contact Marketing Cost 20

WebMarketCentral

APRIL 15, 2008

Social media sites, no longer relegated to just teens and college students, are now the most cost-effective way for a company to drum up international attention. These five sites require less commitment and cost little to no money for a successful marketing campaign. Small businesses will truly be on an even playing field.

Small Business Marketing 20

Small Business Marketing Social Media Wiki Wikipedia 20

WebMarketCentral

JULY 25, 2007

Among the findings in this study: The average cost per webinar or webcast registrant is $35. The new report offers insights and metrics to assist B2B marketers in planning and measuring the success of their own webcasting programs. Typically, just over half of registrants actually attend or view the webcast.

Webcast 20

Webcast Advertising Benchmark Webinar Metrics PR 20

WebMarketCentral

JANUARY 28, 2009

Case studies are currently the most common way to deliver this information, though there is still a production cost for the vendor and prospective buyers presume that only the happiest customers will have their stories published. So, industry publications, blogs, and analyst reports carry somewhat more weight than a company brochure.

Enterprise Management 20

Enterprise Management Social Media Paid Content Marketing Management 20

WebMarketCentral

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

That means, on average, you'd need 17,000 impressions to generate one lead—at an average cost of $1,258! Interestingly, size doesn't seem to matter much on skyscrapers. Conversion rates for B2B ads continue to average about 2.8%. So again: banner ads are branding, not revenue or lead generation.

Banner Ads 20

Banner Ads CTR Banners Ads 20

WebMarketCentral

FEBRUARY 5, 2007

keys to success): Make a list and check it twice (at least): Because each package was personalized with the recipient's first name and company name, production costs were high and returned packages had no re-use value – so the list had to be solid, both in terms of company size and targeting the responsible individual.

Work Management 20

Work Management Marketing Management Paid Search Agency Planning 20

WebMarketCentral

APRIL 10, 2009

Good SEO isn't cheap either, although it is very cost-effective over time. The cost structure almost looks like a long tail graph (though not quite that dramatic), with a sizable initial investment in rebuilding a site to bake in SEO followed by an ongoing program of link building, social media marketing and maintenance activities.

Paid Content 20

Paid Content SEO Paid Search Agency Work Management 20

WebMarketCentral

JANUARY 16, 2009

The model has potential, though at $10 per lead the cost could quickly take a tool on an unemployed candidate's budget. I couldn't find much written about the company or CEO Rick Probstein , so if you have any experience with this company, please leave a comment below.

Resources 20

Resources PR Tagging Lead Ranking 20

WebMarketCentral

APRIL 15, 2009

No outside expert will ever be able to carry on in-depth conversations about your industry or products the way your own subject matter expert employees can.

Social Media 20

Social Media Web 2.0 Media PR 20

WebMarketCentral

JUNE 30, 2009

10 Rules for Setting Your Internet Marketing Budget by Conversation Marketing In yet another of his many remarkable posts, Ian Lurie provides practical responses to the "It costs WHAT?!" question, such as: "If you expect to get a #1 ranking on Google for $99, you're insane;" "Reliable hosting costs more than $9.95

Marketing Budget 20

Marketing Budget Classified Ads Best Practices Budget Programs 20

WebMarketCentral

FEBRUARY 14, 2007

After February 18th, 2007, it'll cost you a few bucks, but it's worth it.) Marketing Sherpa recently published an excellent and thorough review of webinar / web conferencing vendors.

Service 20

Service Webcast Vendors Lead Scoring 20

WebMarketCentral

AUGUST 4, 2009

Research from other sources shows companies that excel at lead nurturing generate more qualified leads at a lower cost per lead, reduce the percentage of marketing-generated leads that are ignored by sales, increase win rates, and have a higher percentage of sales reps who make quota.

Lead Nurturing 20

Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads 20

WebMarketCentral

NOVEMBER 19, 2008

That not only means you can get more attractive pricing, but also that you can get creative in terms of what else goes into the mix: print advertorials, case studies or bylined articles; online editorial coverage, reduced-cost lead gen activities like webinars and white paper syndication; reduced pricing on newsletter sponsorships, etc.

Paid Search Agency 20

Paid Search Agency Advertorials Telemarketing Lead Gen 20

WebMarketCentral

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

My Tweet Space For anyone who wants a cool, custom Twitter background but is design-challenged, My Tweet Space provides a wide selection of free and low-cost professionally designed backgrounds to enhance one's Twitter presence. The profile then follows you around the web and automatically appears on DandyID-enabled sites."

Tools 20

Tools Best Practices Adwords Word of Mouth 20

WebMarketCentral

MAY 5, 2008

For example, services like Benchmark Email and Express Email Marketing —low-cost and self-service oriented—are targeted primarily at individual consultants and very small businesses who, generally, will be writing and designing their own newsletters and email marketing messages.

Pricing 20

Pricing Price Comparison Service 20

WebMarketCentral

AUGUST 30, 2006

Access to the Sherpa article is free through Friday September 1, but will cost you a few bucks after that. Here's our handy guide, including: Surprising data on listener demographics; 3 Mistakes to avoid; 5 Rules for podcast content; 4 Tips to create commercials that get results."

Advertising Agencies 20

Advertising Agencies Demographics Rules Marketing 20