Does Google Adwords make sense for you?

If you have an online marketing strategy, there’s a good chance that Google Adwords is an important part of it. And if you’re using an SEO software product for your internet marketing, you’re probably carefully monitoring—and hopefully optimizing—your Adwords’ performance.

But like all things marketing, Adwords isn’t for everyone. Just because it’s hot and all your friends are doing it, doesn’t mean it will make business sense for you. Many companies delve into Google Adwords, only to throw in the towel a short while later. For a variety of reasons, they don’t get the return on investment they think they should.

Here are some ways to know if Google Adwords is—or isn’t for you.

Read more at TopTenREVIEWS SEO Software Review.

A study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas reveals some very interesting findings on the importance of product reviews on buyer habits. The findings draw from 165 participants who tested video games. They had no previous knowledge of the game, Plants vs. Zombies. I know, I know, but stay with me… The point here isn’t  really about video games.

The study, called, ”The Influence of Professional Critic Reviews,” divided users into three groups. One was exposed to positive reviews of Plants vs. Zombies, one was exposed to negative reviews, and the third was shown none. Participants then played the game for 20 minutes. Next, they filled out an exit survey, gave the game a review score and chose to either receive a free copy of Plants vs. Zombies or $10.

Positive reviews made a big difference.

Those who read positive reviews were twice as likely to choose the copy of Plants vs. Zombies instead of the cash. And they were 85% more likely to take the game than those not exposed to any reviews.  

Read more about the study ag G4tv.com: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/706037/New-Study-Suggests-Video-Game-Reviews-Actually-Important-To-Success.html#ixzz0tf5OS39o

Are you making use of buyer reviews? They clearly influence purchasing decisions, even if you’re not in the business of the undead.

Search engine submission is a tricky topic. Whether or not an SEO software product offers search engine submission doesn’t tell the entire story. Their submission practices must also be evaluated.

Not all SEO submission tools are created equally.

An SEO product that includes solid submission features will save you significant time and money. The best products allow you to submit an unlimited number of pages to search engines and directories. And the top products do it with credible, white hat SEO methods that are approved by search engines. This way they safeguard your website’s credibility and drive the kind of traffic you want.

Read more about safe search engine submission practices.

Find the top 10 SEO software companies.

Online video is all the rage these days. From YouTube and Facebook to news and business websites, everybody’s doing it.

But what everyone’s not doing is optimizing their own video for SEO. Video SEO— or, VSEO—is a collection of practices that guides the creation, optimization and distribution of videos for the purpose of driving traffic and gaining exposure. And these practices, like all of SEO, are a moving target requiring up-to-the-minute expertise. 

Read more on video SEO here: http://online-marketing-services-review.toptenreviews.com/all-about-online-video.html

What’s the return on investment of email marketing? It’s easy to get a bit jaded when it comes to email marketing, as we’re cleaning out our inboxes. It seems like on a good day the proportion of solicited messages to unsolicited messages is 1:10. On a good day. . .

But, marketers, don’t allow your assumptions to cloud your judgments. Email marketing has a very real ROI.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing returned $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. Yes, the nice people at the DMA might have a dog in the fight. (I really hope people aren’t googling dog fighting and ending up on the TechnologyMarketingBlog.) But who else are you going to trust to measure it?

And while down a bit, they estimate email marketing is expected to return $42.08 for every dollar spent on it this year.

So, if you’re not consistently using email marketing, maybe you should be. And if you’re not getting a healthy ROI, it’s time to evaluate your methods.

The online ad marketing had it’s best quarter ever in Q4 09, according to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

This record $6.3 billion in revenues speaks to the worst of the ad slump behind us, according to PwC’s David Silverman.

Other highlights of the report:

• Search and display advertising is still the largest overall interactive advertising spend. Search revenues comprise 47% of the total spending.
• Digital video in particular is strong, with an almost 39% increase from 2008 to 2009.
• Based on data from PwC from 2005 to 2009 in tv, radio, newspapers, consumers magazines and Internet, the Internet’s share of combined ad revenue more than doubled from 8% to 17%.

Find out more at http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/pr-040710

Small business use of social media is steeply on the rise in the U.S.  The third wave of the Small Business Success Index™ (SBSI), sponsored by Network Solutions® and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, reports that social media is being used by twice as many small businesses since last year.

How does your business measure up?

Read more and see the breakdown at http://growsmartbusiness.com/small-business-success-index-highlights/.

To network or not to network? You may expect me to tell you, unequivocally, if you’re serious about your business, get out and network! Kind of in the same way that dentist you don’t go to anymore used to tell you how important it was for you to floss.

But honesty is a better policy. Not everyone should be out there networking. Some should be doing more. And some who are networking today may be doing it all wrong.

Where do you fall? To find out, take the quiz:

http://designerscouch.org/show_article/182/should-you-network.html

Here is a TopTenREVIEWS review of the top internet marketing companies. Various service areas are evaluated, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC), link building, social media optimization and more.

Read the online marketing services firms review.

We all know how important customer acquisition is these days—for our clients and for ourselves. But some companies are getting carried away and making a big online marketing mistake.

Many are getting caught up in optimizing their websites for lead generation and sales conversion. And they’re forgetting there’s much more to a website strategy. Effective websites must also serve existing customers and create a brand perception of trust and credibility.

Read more of Customer Acquisition Versus Cheap Sales Tactics.