In this, the first in a series of articles on optimising your digital marketing strategies, Azam Marketing’s Saija Mahon explores The Conversion Funnel.

Conversion Funnel.

I’ve been hearing the above mentioned over and over again in the countless meetings and conferences that I’ve attended in the past decade or so in this industry.

The word sounds powerful and sophisticated; however, sometimes I’m left wondering if we really understand what it is all about.

Let’s go back to the basics.

I guess a sales funnel would be best described as like a highway tunnel – it’s a means to drive large amounts of people to a certain goal or target…  get people directed from A to B.

Similarly, a conversion funnel’s main purpose would be to drive people from A to B in a controlled environment, for example getting consumers to search on your core PPC keywords, click on your text ad, and buy or enquire about your products and services that you offer as a business. Simple really isn’t it?

As simple as it might sound, you should be thinking about your Conversion Funnel strategy before you launch your marketing campaigns: who is your target audience, who will you be looking to drive to your site and by what means.

Should you use PPC, SEO, display or affiliates? Perhaps it should be a balanced mix of all?

When the potential customers are finally on your site, via whatever channel you decided to use, how will you get them to purchase your products or sign up for your services – and complete the journey you have determined you would like to take them along?

In two short and simple words: Action Plan.

Have one in place. And stick to it.

Make sure you are consistent with the message you are pushing through to your potential customers.

Ensure your ad texts and banners are highly relevant and compelling against the keywords you have selected. Ensure you direct users to the most relevant landing pages possible and that it’s easy and clear for them to buy your products or sign up to your services.

Don’t confuse the users by making them have an arduous journey through the site and don’t confuse them with too many choices.

We are humans after all and easily distracted. A crossroad with no signs, no-one telling us what to do or where to go… we are just going to turn back and return to where we came from.

Best strategy is to have as few clicks on your Conversion Funnel as possible and get the user to complete the path as painlessly and as quick as possible.

So what next? You’ve planned your strategy – you have your Conversion Funnel in place and it’s all ready to go.

In order to measure the effectiveness of your strategy, you should always measure and analyse the performance of your funnels.

Set up tracking on the Conversion Funnel path (for example using Coremetrics, Omniture or Google Analytics), and improve it where applicable. Identify the strong as well as the weak areas of the path.

Are there any parts in the journey that make the user drop off? What can you do to fix it?

It’s all about testing, refining and fine-tuning.

Due to the fast-changing nature of the internet, the behaviour of your target audience will be constantly evolving and we should always be a step ahead, ready to adapt and adjust.

It’s also important to look after your customers now that you’ve handheld them through the Conversion Funnel and made them take an action or complete a purchase. Do your utmost to ensure they become repeat customers and remind them about new products and services that may interest them.

Make them feel special.

With plans for our summer networking event in progress, a host of new clients under our belt, and winning Best Finance Publisher at this month’s a4u Awards, Azam Marketing has been a hive of activity of late, and so we’re delighted to welcome a new pair of hands to our fast-expanding SEM team in the form of new Search Marketing Manager, Ovie Oba!

We selected Ovie after going through job applications from over 500 search marketers and interviewing the 50 best ones, so we’d like to think he is the Lionel Messi of search.

Ovie brings a wealth of digital marketing experience having managed profitable PPC campaigns for top level clients, and rounded skills in web design, search engine optimisation, campaign analysis and retargeting.

His most recent position was with online agency Attinger Jack Interactive Ltd, where he managed a number of high profile PPC accounts as well as directing a team of web developers.

With such an impressive skill set, we know that Ovie will be a real asset to our team and extend a warm welcome!

Work skills and experience aside, I caught up with Ovie to ask him to reveal more about what makes him tick!

Describe yourself in three words:
Disciplined, respectful and calm

Favourite Quotation:
“stumbling is not falling” – Malcolm X

Favourite Book:
The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Favourite Film:
The Godfather

Favourite Website:
PPC Hero keeps me updated on relevant PPC news

Hobbies and Interests:
Seeking knowledge, going to the gym, spending time with family

Proudest Achievement:
Making my first $15 commission online as an affiliate while at university

Most Embarrassing Moment:
When I leaned too far back and fell off my chair and into a bush in front of all my friends when I was in high school

3 Interesting Facts about You:

a. I drink at least 5 cups of green tea a day
b. I am half Nigerian and half Indian
c. As a teenager, I represented my London borough in the 100m sprints

Get in touch with Ovie:

Email: ovie [at] azam.net
Windows Live Messenger: ovie.oba [at] hotmail.co.uk
Mobile: 07908 803 152

Want to work with Azam’s award-winning team of marketing and design experts? For details of our current job vacancies, see here.

Due to a doubling in our client base in the last 12 months we are on a recruitment drive once again and seeking new digital superstars to join the growing Azam Marketing team. Below are a list of exciting vacancies we have.

These are all senior roles; you must have at least two years full-time or three years part-time experience in the discipline you are applying for the position in. If you are multi-skilled it may be possible to combine roles to suit your passions.

Click on the job title for detailed information about each role.

Programmer/Website Designer/Graphic Designer – full-time

Business Development Manager – full-time or part-time.

Paid Search Marketing Specialist – full-time

Search Engine Optimisation Specialist – part-time

Affiliate Marketing Manager – full-time or maximum part-time

Chief Executive Officer – full-time

We are also seeking a Bookkeeper/Credit Controller and Public Relations Manager.

You may find out more about Azam Marketing on our website and see all the fun we have in our Facebook Fan Group.

Please send applications to Melissa White at hr [at] azam.net

Applications without the information requested in the job ads will not be considered.

If you recommend a candidate to us who we hire, we will pay a generous referral fee.

• 80% of the time searchers go to the organic results first
• 65% of search traffic goes to the top ten search results
• 60% of searchers click on paid ads sometimes while 12% say they click on them always or most of the time.

Use them together for the most effective marketing strategy:

• Organic SEO is a great long term investment which everyone who is serious about their website should invest in, but PPC can start driving traffic right away. Smart customers will use this to their benefit. Begin SEO and PPC at the same time so you are getting traffic to your site right away, while you wait for your organic rankings start to rise. Once you’ve obtained strong organic rankings, you can reduce your PPC spending, but you shouldn’t stop it altogether.

You should never put all your marketing budget in one basket – it’s too risky. A solid marketing plan should minimize risks and maximize impressions:

• If you have high organic rankings but no paid ads, then you are letting your PPC-savvy competitors steal away some traffic from you because a large percentage of potential customers will click on paid ads too.
• If your organic rankings suddenly take a dive due to search engine algorithm changes and you don’t have a PPC campaign then you are suddenly invisible in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Granted you can start PPC at any time, but if you aren’t familiar with it, it can take some time (even for a professional) to figure out the most-effective PPC strategy for your site.
• If you only focus on paid listings, you are missing out on the 80% of traffic that goes to organic rankings. Also, research indicates that many customers put a higher “trust” level on organic rankings since many customers are aware that those ads are paid for. You may find that your conversion rate for organic rankings is higher than that of your PPC campaign.
• If you only focus on paid listings and suddenly a competitor enters the PPC market with a big budget that you can’t compete with, then you are going to lose your placement and now you are looking at 3-5 months before you can counter that with organic rankings.

Budgeting

PPC and SEO can be combined to offer an excellent search marketing campaign. Together they can help to maximize web traffic, capture highly targeted visitors, enhance sales, and generate brand awareness. By budgeting wisely, you will be able to use PPC and SEO to their full advantage.

• For new online storefronts or websites, PPC will drive traffic to your site immediately. Based on your budget, a good strategy will be to start using PPC advertising, invest in SEO as soon as you have the funds to invest in it, and begin to taper off your PPC advertising as your organic listings begin to increase.
• From a recent study at the Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), researchers found that on more than 80% of searches, study participants went first to the results identified as “organic.” Sponsored links were viewed first less than 10% of the time. A safe bet is to break down your SEO and PPC budget into roughly 70-80% organic SEO and 20-30% PPC. This will help you drive long-term, consistent traffic to your site.
• Set a goal for the amount of traffic you expect to see in a given day. Then, monitor your traffic sources using a quality web analytics program. Turn on conversion tracking code provided by PPC engines like Google and Yahoo!. Information is power. You will begin to see which form of advertising is working best for your industry and your unique situation. When you know where your traffic is coming from and which visitors are converting, you’ll be able to make better marketing decisions.
• Diversify your efforts. Remember that the search engine marketing industry is not limited to these two forms of advertising. Additional options such as blogs, press releases and RSS feeds will help you take advantage of the fact that consumers are first visiting search engines when they are looking to make a purchase.

USA businesses: drive local customers through your doors! Sign up now to get your website listed in local directories & we’ll waive the $19.95 setup fee.

SEO and PPC jobs at Azam Marketing

Our relentless pace of growth shows no sign of abating and we’re hiring again. Below are a list of six exciting new vacancies we have.

These are all senior roles; you must have at least two years full-time or three years part-time experience in the discipline you are applying for the position in.

Click on the job title for detailed information about each role.

Paid Search Marketing Specialist – full-time

Search Engine Optimisation Specialist – part-time

Affiliate Marketing Manager – full-time or maximum part-time

Website and Graphic Designer – full-time

Business Development Manager – full-time or part-time.

Chief Executive Officer - full-time.

You may find out more about Azam Marketing on our website and see all the fun we have in our Facebook Fan Group.

Please send applications to Melissa White at hr [at] azam.net

Applications without the information requested in the job ads will not be considered.

If you recommend a candidate to us who we hire, we will pay a generous referral fee.

A new survey of the UK search engine marketplace shows that Yahoo has lost 40% of its market share in the last 12 months.

The report by Efficient Frontier indicates that spending on search marketing in the UK rose by 11% between Q4 2007 and Q4 2008, in contrast to an 8% drop in the USA over the same period.

Yahoo’s UK share plummeted during this period from 13.9% to 8.4%. Google was the beneficiary of this loss, increasing its share from 82.6% to a market dominant 88.2%. Microsoft’s search product remained consistent, with a 3.4% share.

The figures include spending on Google and Yahoo’s content networks. This is likely to have contributed to the majority of Google’s growth in market share, owing to the 300 percent year-on-year increase in spending on its Content Network.

At this moment it’s hard to imagine 2009 producing growth for Yahoo in the UK. They have reduced their discount to medium and large spending agencies as of the 1st January 2009, earlier this month they announced the closure of their contextual ad service in Europe, and so far they have not followed the example of their US operation in early 2008 and officially approved affiliates buying ads on a direct-to-merchant basis. Hopefully they won’t be importing their controversial ‘campaign optimisation’ scheme from the USA which involved changes being made to advertisers’ accounts without prior permission.

As the originators of PPC advertising, it’s a little sad to see Yahoo! Search Marketing in danger of falling behind both of its behemoth competitors. Both Google and Microsoft add a steady stream of additional features to their PPC services, and both now offer free desktop account management software tools, but Yahoo appears to be standing still.

Here at Azam Marketing we’re hoping that new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz can start to turn things around.

Recommended Links: Use the new easycontentunits.com to add products from 11 affiliate networks within seconds to your websites.

Despite the credit crunch taking it’s hold on the global economy, the last year has been the busiest ever at Azam HQ. We have been very fortunate and blessed to maintain a tremendous pace of growth with our business which has led to new client acquistions and in turn the opportunity to welcome new team members to Azam Marketing.

We are following our announcement of the appointment of our two newest Affiliate Managers by drawing attention to more established colleagues, in particular Stuart Reader, our Director of Paid Search Marketing. Many of you will already have met Stuart at many of the online marketing gatherings around London he has attended over the years.

Stuart joined Azam in May 2008 and is responsible for overseeing the development and running of paid-search campaigns for clients and in-house projects. His day to day tasks include managing PPC campaigns, providing reports to clients, plenty of number crunching, and getting involved in pitches for new business.

Stuart has worked in Internet Marketing since the day dot and like many early entrepreneurs tried his hand at running a shopping directory before stumbling across PPC and harnessing it as a way to deliver fast results and make a full time living.

Stuart’s personal highlights within online marketing include his first profitable day and the first £500 single commission. However his most favourite sales bonus so far and one I’m very envious of, has to be an invite to the Royal film première of The History Boys and the unusual experience of walking past Stephen Fry and the paparazzi on the red carpet.

Describing what his most favourite aspect of search marketing is, Stuart says “I like finding untapped marketing niches and making a significant boost in the number of sales that a merchant can make each day”. That plus an invite to the odd film première and a bucket full of free popcorn hey Stuart?

It is with great pleasure I introduce Stuart as part of the Azam Team; he is a great asset and a truly nice guy.

When he isn’t wearing his PPC hat, you may find Stuart practising tai chi or hypermiling in his plastic Smart Car!

You can contact Stuart at:
Email: stuart [at] azam.net
Windows Live Messenger: stuartreader [at] hotmail.com
Direct Line: 01702 382 308
Mobile: 07795 574 178

Today I am going to review the new pay per click advertising network from Netklix who have started advertising in our blog.

Netklix are not actually a new network; they were founded in 1999 and originally began life as an affiliate network, running programs in the UK and USA. Shifting from CPA to CPC, the reincarnated set-up offers a way for web site owners and bloggers to earn money for every click generated.

From an advertisers point of view the Pay per Click model allows for ads to run online, however you only need to pay when a person clicks on one of your adverts. Pay per click advertising usually yields a higher Return on Investment (ROI) than CPM advertising as there is less wastage.

Looking at it as a Publisher

As a website publisher you will probably always be looking for a way to monetise all the hard work that you put in when building and maintaining you site or blog. By joining Netklix you could maximise your earning potential.

Netklix works very much like Google Adsense. When you click the sign up button you get taken through to a screen where you design your ad space. You can choose any colours you want so that the ads fit nicely with the look and feel of your site.

Once you have chosen your colours you must choose the subject categories that your site or blog covers. This is important as the Channels selected will help the most relevant ads to appear on your site maximising your earning potential.

The third step of the sign-up process is to add all your details such as name, address etc. I was a bit sceptical of the claim that the sign-up process would only take 5 minutes, but it does.

The interface looks easy and simple to use with the information you really want to know like “how much money have I made?” clearly displayed on the left hand side in your account. It is also really easy to create additional ad spaces and add more sites to your account.

So why would I want to use Netklix?

• The choice of content channels means relevant advertisers on your site
• You can create your own ads so they blend well with your site
• Netklix provides an additional revenue stream for your site or blog

Looking at it as an Advertiser

Netklix offers advertisers a cost effective way to run adverts online. It works in very much the same way as other PPC products. When you sign up you firstly choose your ad text and the maximum CPC that you are willing to bid. This is the maximum price you are willing to pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

You then choose the categories that the product you are promoting fits into. This will help to place your ads on contextually relevant websites which will increase the conversion rates of your campaign. The third step is to add your details and you’re away.

One of the advantages I saw of Netklix was the bidding system which continually optimises downwards, i.e on the UK network you only pay £0.01 more than highest bid of the Advertiser in the next position below you, up to your maximum bid.

So why would I want to use Netklix?

• You only play when potential customers click through to your site
• You can choose from 400+ content Channels
• You can promote your business across thousands of sites instantly
• You set the click costs
• You can manage your account online anytime

Ask the CEO

Doing my impression of Deborah Meeden on Dragons’ Den, I posed some questions to the CEO of Netklix, Andrew Pike, which I thought would be the ones that advertisers and publishers might like answered.

What anti-fraud mechanisms do you have in place? – “We know that click-fraud is something that Advertisers are increasingly concerned about. Netklix have developed our own multi-stage technology to detect and isolate invalid clicks. That means Advertisers only pay for valid clicks, helping them increase traffic in safety. Publishers feel the benefit too. By tackling click-fraud, Netklix Advertisers are more confident in their CPC bids, which means a high-yielding, sustainable revenue source for Publishers”.

What controls do you have in place in terms of quality of publishers? – “Every Publisher that applies to the Netklix network is reviewed individually, by hand, prior to approval by our Account Management team. This means that Advertisers can be assured of our network quality. We apply the same rigour to Advert approval too, which means Publishers also gain from joining a responsible network.”

What are the strengths over Google Adsense? – “Netklix matches Advertisers and Publishers using our unique channel list. Keyword based targeting, although often effective, can be an added burden, especially when you are starting out. Advertisers have to build and maintain a list of thousands of keywords or risk congregating around which can burn budgets quickly. Publishers are also forced to constantly think up new ways to employ trigger keywords in their copy. In contrast, Netklix customers simply select the channels that best fit the content of their site and the Netklix does the rest. It’s as easy as that.”

In Summary

Netklix looks as though it is a great tool for advertisers to place highly targeted ads online next to relevant content, which will no doubt lead to higher conversion rates over CPM banner advertising. For a publisher the Netklix network will allow the monetisation of valuable online real estate.

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the 5^th of May? May Day Bank Holiday? A lazy day sunbathing in Brighton or Blackpool or plonked in front of the tele?