Ask Gorilla. Internet Marketing Tips and Tricks

Changing the Direction of Ask Gorilla

 I've decided to change the direction of AskGorilla.com a little (and for good reason).  There seems to be an influx of Internet Marketing materials that are either identical to each other, or they have no value to you. 

Some materials are simply over hyped and over priced.  Some are packed with so much information that it can over whelm and discourage people from achieving their goals. 

Some internet marketers actually bank on the fact that most of you won't do anything with the materials they sell you.  They know that you will just keep on buying.  Sure, you will try for a little, but then you will get discouraged when you don't get the "miracle" results they promised and give up. 

Do you know what happens next?  They wait, and they wait.  They know that you are looking for the "next big thing" and the "this is it!".  Guess what happens?  They sell you all over again.

I am passionate about what I do for my clients.  They are excited about the results I achieve for them.  The truth is, you can do everything the so called internet marketing gurus tell you that you can accomplish and more. In fact, in most cases I can show you how to do it on much less than you can ever imagine.

And please, don't get me wrong.  There is also a ton of good marketing materials produced by honest, ethical and credible sources.  My goal for you is to sort through the jungle out there and give you honest and unbiased feedback.

Sit back and enjoy.  I'll be bringing you some fresh content very soon.  In the meantime, if you would like me to review your product please Ask Gorilla to Review Your Internet Marketing Product

Anatomy of a Pay-Per-Click Ad - Part 3 - URL

The URL is actually a 2 part process.  We are going to dive into both parts in this post.  This is going to be a 2-For!

When building your online Pay Per Click ads you will need to decide on both a Display URL and a Destination URL.  The Display URL is what will be shown to the reader of the ad.  The Destination URL is where the reader will be taken when they click on your ad.

In the example above, the reader will see the Display URL and will be taken to the Destination URL when they click on the ad.  It is important to note that the reader never sees the Destination URL until they arrive at your site.  The page they land on is called the Landing Page.  We will get more into landing pages when we cover Destination URL's.

DISPLAY URLS

There are a few tricks we want to keep in mind when we create a Display URL's.

1. We must keep in mind that we are limited to only 35 Characters.  Keep it short and to the point. NO HTTP or WWW.
2. Choose a Domain Name this is highly relevant to  your target market.  For example, if you sell computers a domain name that sounds high tech will convert better than one that sounds low-tech.  (This should actually be considered before you start building your site.  But if you are still at the research phase then consider this now before you buy your domain name )

3. RELEVANT.  This is the last chance to catch the readers attention.  Make the Destination URL be equal to the type of content that will appear on the landing page.

In this example to the left, we can clearly see that the creator of this ad added  HTTP and the www into their ad. 

By eliminating the HTTP and www from the ad we save 11 of the 35 spaces we are allotted.

Another Tip is to use the First Letter Capitalization Strategy that we used in Part 1 Headlines and Part 2 Descriptions. 

In the example to our right, we can see that I capitalized the A and the G to help the domain name stand out.  But we can even take it 1 Step Further!

In this last example, we can see that we have added the word "Headlines" to our Display URL.  This is highly relevant to the example ad that we have worked on.  And because of this relevancy we are rewarded with having our keywords bolded.

DESTINATION URL

This is the actual URL of the page we are taking the reader.  It is the exact URL path that takes the reader directly to the information they are looking for.

This first page that they view is called the Landing Page.  Just as you split test your ads to see which ones get better Click Thru Rates and Convert Better you can also split test your landing pages to see which ones covert best.

If you are looking for a free tool to track your results, you can't go wrong with Google Analytics.  You can use this to track what is going on within your website.

Anatomy of a PPC Ad - Part 2 - Killer Descriptions

As we learned in How to Write Headlines for Pay Per Click Ads, the headline is what you use to get the readers attention. The description is your chance to get the customer to click on your ad.  There are a few tips and tricks to get them to do that.

Lets start off with the amount of space you get to capture the readers attention.

Generally you get 70 characters or 2 lines of 35 characters.  Pay close attention to each PPC Network you use because the amount of characters for your description will vary from search engine to search engine.  Some will only display a short description of your ad on some networks, while others may only display your headline.

Just like in the headline portion of your ad, your description section will BOLD the text that matches the keywords you have bid on.  In this example, let us say we are creating an ad for a product that helps readers write good headlines.

In this case, we can see that that word Headline is now showing in our ad and it is Bolded TWICE!

Why is this effective?  Because people scan pages from left to right going down the page.  As your eyes move down the page the two times you see the word headline will be more likely to catch your attention. 

It is good practice to spread your keywords out in your ads.  This gives you a better chance at catching your readers eye.

The best advice is to run 2 ads at a time and see which style of wording works best for your market.  This is called split testing. 

Always put one ad up against another.  You can usually tell in a few hundred page views which ad is the stronger ad.  Once you have determined which ad has a stronger CTR or converts better, delete the ad that is under performing.  Then create a new ad and compete it with the previous winner.    

 

Anatomy of a Pay Per Click Ad - Part 1 - Headlines

To the left you will see a sample of a Pay Per Click Text Ad.  These generally look the same on the big 3 Pay Per Click Ad Programs.  The Programs are Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN Adcenter.

For today and for the next 3 days we are going break down the 4 main sections of a Pay Per Click Text ad.  These 4 sections are Headline, Description, Display URL,and Destination URL. 

Tip #1:  Using Capital Letters in Headlines

Lets Get Started With Headlines.  One of the first things you want to do when creating a headline is to get that headline to POP!  You want it to stand out above all the rest.  Let's take a look and how you may write your first headline. This is a common mistake new comers make when creating an Pay Per Click Ad.

In the example above, only the first letter of the first word is capitalized.  This is not much of an attention getter.  Let's redo the same ad so that every main word is capitalized.

Can you see and compare the difference?  The second headline jumps off the page.  It is easier on the eyes for readers to read.  The trick is to capitalize words just like they were the title of a book or a movie.

Tip #2:  Using Your Keywords in the Headline

If you are trying to capture a reader's attention with a specific keyword or keyword phrase, why not include it in the title?  By doing this, your Keyword will show up in BOLD letters.  In this case, we are bidding on the word "Example" and it also appears in our ad.

 

This helps to make your ad highly relevant and can increase your CTR's (Click Through Rates).  In the case of our Pay Per Click Example above, someone was searching for the word Example.  We were bidding on the term Example and we also listed it in our Headline.  Because it is in our headline, it was automatically bolded for us.  When the reader scans the page, they are more likely to see our ad as being relevant and click on it.

TIP #3 - Grabbing Their Attention

Of course, this is the whole purpose of a headline.  You want the reader to click on your ad over all the others on the page.  Some people will use their company name for the headline.  In very few instances is this recommended.  Unless you have 1 product and it is only known by the name of your company, it is highly unlikely that you would need to use your company name .

For the example, I am going to pretend like I am writing an ad for this post.  Here are the two examples:  Which do you prefer?

Now think of this from a searchers point of view.  Chances are someone was searching for Headline Tips.  If both ads were served up then the one that is most relevant is most likely to get clicked on.  In this case Headline Secrets and Tips is more relevant that Marketing tips since Headline Tips are EXACTLY what the user was searching for.

Tomorrow's Focus on the Anatomy of a Pay Per Click Ad: Descriptions

Reader Question: Increasing CTR's

From:  Ben
Subject of Question:Adwords Advertising

Your Question for Gorilla is: My click through rate (ctr) on Adwords isn't very good.  It's usually below 1%.  I'm getting a lot of impressions but not a lot of CTR.  What do I need to do to get more CTR?  Should I do something more with my keywords?

ANSWER:
This is a great question and one I often hear from new clients.  Many people do not fully grasp how Adwords and other PPC advertising actually work.  But before, I go any further I want to make sure that everyone knows that Click-Thru-Rates (CTR's) are just one piece of the puzzle.

Let's dive into some possible issues:
The first thing that always comes to mind with High Impressions and Low CTR's is Bid Amount.  If you look to the Column for Average Position you will probably find that you are showing up in the 8+ position.  This means that on most computers your add will be showing below the fold. 

The fold is any part of the webpage that you have to scroll down to see.  This means that while your ad is technically showing on the page, it is out of view from the competition.  This means that the 7 people above you are getting most of the exposure.  They are also going to get higher CTR's because they are the first ads that are seen by the reader of that page.

When it comes to Google Adwords, it is often a better strategy to bid aggressively in the beginining of a campaign. 

Here is why:
What is the one thing Google loves?  Relevancy.  Google will actually reward you when you place a relevant ad.  So if you bid aggressively up front you will be in the higher positions on the page.  This will most likely increase your CTR's.  When your CTR's are higher, Google views that ad as something that their users are interested in.  Because of that, you will be rewarded with a lower Bid Amount to reach the same position.  You can then gradually begin decreasing your bid amounts and maintain the same position in the search results!

The second part of your question refers to your keywords. 
Without seeing your list of keywords I can offer you a few suggestions:

1.  Your current set of keywords may be too broad.  For example, let us say you are in the business of selling printers.  If you are just bidding on the keyword "printers" you are in a very competitive category with very few buyers.  The word printers is going to be reserved for some one who wants general information on printers and is not likely to buy at this time.  But lets say you sell a specific model named Super Printer 5000.  That is a very specific type of printer and when people search for Super Printer 5000 your ad will show.  Not only that, but Super Printer 5000 is very targeted to EXACTLY what someone is searching for. Also, people who search for Super Printer 5000 are more likely to buy a printer.

2.  You could be running 1 ad with too many keywords that do not acurately reflect that actual text of the ad.  Break the ads up and make them more specific to your keywords.

3.  Split test your ad. You are able to run multiple versions of ads.  You should always run at least 2 versions of ads and see which one performs the best. Lets say AD #1 gets 1.3% CTR and Ad #2 gets 1.6% CTR then you have a slightly stronger ad with Ad #2.  I would toss in a 3rd Ad and see where that one falls.  Then after 24-72 Hours get rid of the lowest CTR Ad and test another one.  Continue testing the ads and continually raising your CTR's.

This is a great question from one of our readers.  It actually came at the perfect time since I am now working on a series of posts what will be related to Pay-Per-Click Ad Campaigns.  Check back tomorrow when we dive in starting with Headings.

Are You Killing Your Business?

The biggest obstacle to your businesses success is often YOU! Either because your "Big Idea" ran out of steam or life caught up with you and the time constraints to grow your business are far too great.

The biggest thing you are doing wrong right now is doing NOTHING. This is where most people fail at business. In fact, most businesses fail before they even start. The sad truth is that many of you who read this post will get very excited, turn the interent off, and then slowly fade back into your normal daily life.

Is running a business easy? ABSOLUTELY NOT
Is it rewarding? ABSOLUTELY

Are you excited about your business?
Do you love what you do?
Do you believe in the products you are selling?
Do you have something to share with the world?

If you answered YES to all of those questions, then this post is going to benefit you in ways you could not have ever imagined.

So today's tip is going to be one of the most important tips on this site: TAKE ACTION. This does not mean you have to implement every Tip today. In fact, I would strongly discourage you from doing that.

Here is why: Too much change, too fast can actually be harmful to the over all business. The goal of this post and this site is to slowly and ethically build your business. Each one of these tips takes time and resources away from you.

As your sales grow and you implement different strategies you will need to hire on more employees. Those employees can specialize in certain areas that this site covers. Let their strengths propel your business for you. And as you bring on more employees, implement more strategies.

Just one of these tips could save you hundreds of hours of work and thousands of dollars. Better yet, just one of these tips could MAKE YOU THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.

You found this site for a reason. Now TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT. Use it to its full potential.

TODAYS ACTION PLAN:

Get together with a friend, collegue or neighbor who has a similiar interest in building a strong online business. Share this site along with the tips and tricks we provide for you. Then Challenge each other to meet goals and then exceed them.

Go back through some of our posts and build a strategy for making your business an online sucess. Also, you can sign up for our

Internet Marketing News Letter and get tips and tricks delivered right to your inbox.

Ask Gorilla an Internet Marketing Question

This is the feature I am most excited about when it comes to AskGorilla.com.  I have opened this site up to your questions.  You can ask any questions you have on Internet marketing and E-Commerce. Your questions can span SEO, Web 2.0, Product Submit, PPC, RSS, Blogging, Social Medias, Email Marketing, Video Marketing and anything else you can think of on the Internet.

But where AskGorilla.com differs from other sites is that our answers are open to other readers suggestions.

Here is why:

I've been doing this since the year 2000 and have learned certain tricks and tips.  I know what has worked for me and my clients.  But, I also know that the way I do things is not the only way to do it.  There are always different approaches to different matters.  Each situation can have 20-30 different answers.

There is no right way or wrong way.  Well, let me rephrase that......THERE ARE DEFINITELY WRONG WAYS to market on the Internet!  But what I mean is that there are different perspectives to solving the same problem.

So I invite you to ask questions and read through the advice I give.  I also ask that you respond to the information I give.  If you use it and implement it, let us know how it turned out for you.  Let us know how you fine tuned the idea to make it work for you.

That is what this site is about.  Helping each other.  Let us help you and in return you can help us by telling 40 of your closet friends about AskGorilla.com.

Thanks again for the Support!
Jeff "Gorilla" Revilla

Free Marketing Tool - EmailMeForm.com

I wanted to tell you about a 100% Completely free service I used to for building part of this site.  When you click on AskGorilla an Internet Marketing Question over there to the right, the link takes you to a page where you can actually AskGorilla a question.

On that page you will see a form.  You can build a form like that for any site in a matter of minutes (without knowing any coding!) and have it up and running.  Your readers will be able to fill out the form and the results will be mailed directly to you.

Check it out Here:  EmailMeForm.com

Design and Layout Choices

There are many different layouts a website can have. But we can generally narrow them down to 6 basic structures. All of these will contain the same basic elements. Including, (but certainly not limited to) Header, Horizontal/Vertical Navigation, Ad Space, Footer

Lets Take a Look at some different layouts you may consider when building your website.

1 Column Layout with Header and Footer This style is the most basic of all web pages. You may often see this style for a blog or a first timers website. It is divided vertically into 3 sections. Top = Header, Center = Content, Bottom = Footer.

2 Column Layout with Header and Footer The most common layout you will see on the internet. Typical Header and Footer, but a slight change in the Content Section. The Left Side is for Navigation and the Right Side is for Content. This style is commonly used for e-commerce sites.

Reverse 2 Column Layout with Header/Footer Very Similiar to the layout above except for the center section containing the navigation and content have been flipped. The Navigation menu will now be appearing on the right side and the content will be on the left. Very common for Blogs.

3 Column Site without Footer I simply wanted to show you and make you aware that websites often do not have footers. You will come across them from time to time. Footers are not usually large sections. They may only contain an Ad, About Us or a Contact Us Link

3 Column with Centered Content and Footer This is a very common layout. It gives you 3 columns in the center for Navigation, Content, and Ads (or other navigation)

3 Column Site with Left Side Content This layout is commonly used for blogs. All of the content has been moved to the far left. The center and right side columns are used for navigation, ad space and affiliate links. This style can incorporate a footer if you so choose.  This is the style that this site is built in. I find it gives a great balance of content and ads along with being easy for the users.

Keep in mind that some styles work better for some niche markets than others.

You will need to seek out other sites in your field of expertise and see what is working for them. Then, once you have settled on your desired layout start experimenting with it. Try a few pages with one format and a few with a slightly tweaked version. Narrow down what works and then run with it.

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PUTTING YOUR DESIGN DOWN ON PAPER

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I know. It sounds so 80's to use paper and pencil. But the best thing you can do when building your own site is to draw it out in a notebook.

It does not have to be anything fancy. It can be as simple as the drawings I have made up above. In fact, 90% off all the sites I have built have started on scratch paper and have looked just like those images.

Things to Include in your Sketches:
Home Page Image, Navigation, Page Structure, Page Content, Links, Ad Placements, Footer, Contact Information, About You Information, Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Disclaimers

Once you have a basic layout down, you can dive head first into producing those web pages.

As I have mentioned before in Learning HTML there is one product I have used over the Past 7 years that has made building web pages unbelievably easy.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is for the serious web developer. You will be able to design any site you can think of as you become familiar with the product.

Once you have the knowledge and the tools, you will find that people are in need of your services. You can often pay for your web developing software with the very first job you do!

Learning HTML - Basic Tutorial

Do I have to learn HTML?

Some people will tell you ABSOLUTELY NOT, but they are not telling you the complete truth.

The absolute truth is YES. You do not have to know everything there is to know about HTML, but you will need to know a basic understanding of how it works. Just like you do not have to know exactly how your car operates, but you need to know what fluids go where.

HTML is not difficult to learn at all. In fact to build this page that you are seeing right now, I only used the following elements:

Heading, Paragraph, Bold, Links, Images, Tables, Code Insertion.

That is it! You do not have to have an extensive knowledge of HTML to be able to use it. I will cover the basics that will enable you to get started right away. You can take this knowledge and build on it.

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Basic HTML - Getting Started

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Here is how Simple HTML is to use:
HTML starts with an Open Tag and a Close Tag. Or you can think of it as Start and Finish. Once you know this, the only other thing you need to know is What Do I Want To Do? Once you can answer that question, you can write HTML.

<open tag> This is a Basic HTML Example</close tag>

The Open Tag tells your browser what to do and to begin executing that code.
The Close Tag tells your browser to stop doing it.

You need to do 3 things with Basic HTML: (and it is almost always the same)
1. OPEN TAG (What do you Want to Do?)
2. TEXT (What you want it done to.)
3. CLOSE TAG (Stop Doing it)

For Example: The HTML needed to Bold the Word Website looks like this:
<b>Website</b> . And when you view the page you will only see Website.

That is it. The rest is trial and error. Listed below you will find an example of the most common HTML Tags and what each one does.

Editing Font
The most basic thing you can do with a webpage is edit font. This will change the look and feel of the text on your page.

<font size="3">Sets size of font, from 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7</font>

<b>Bold Text</b>

<i>Italic Text</i>

<font color="green">Changes the font Color</font>

FORMATING THE PAGE
These tags allow you to edit the basic layout of the page.

<p>Create a new paragraph</p>

<p align="left">This sets your alignment to left, right or center.

<br />Line Break. If you want to insert a line in your Paragraph or between.

<img src="url.com/name.jpg" alt="Description" />Insert an Image

<hr />Inserts a horizontal rule

TABLES

<table></table>Create a Table

<tr></tr>Create a Row in a table

<td></td>Creates a Cell within the Row. (This is what will create columns)

With these 12 HTML Tags you can begin building websites. SERIOUSLY!

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USING A HTML EDITOR

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Another route that you can take is using a program with a WYSIWYG Editor.

WYSIWYG stands for "What You See, is What You Get".

This means that as you make the changes on your computer screen for the web page you are working on, the editor generates the HTML for you. This makes building web pages very similar to using any word processing software. So if you have ever used Word or WordPerfect, you can definitely build web pages.

This is the method I personally used to learn HTML. Take advantage of the editor to get started right away and at the same time you will begin to learn the HTML Language.

You will pick it up in no time. HTML is a very simple language to learn.

If you want to get serious about HTML, then there is only one program to use. Ask around and any web developer will tell you that if you are serious about web design you need to be using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 You can build quite a lucrative business building webpages for people. This knowledge that you are leaning (even just by reading this site!) can really propel your business to the next level.

Usually, your first job will pay for the software! What other business can you be in where you break even on your first sale?

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 is just the tool to take you to that level. Start downloading Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 in minutes. No shipping needed. Only at Adobe.com