Author: Suse Barnes

Susan Barnes is the president and founder of Susby Internet Solutions. Susan enjoys teaching and strives to have her clients understand how they can use newer technologies to promote their businesses. Susan has been project manager, designer, developer and lead online marketing consultant for various small to medium sized businesses for over eleven years.

Success with Google AdWords

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One of the services we offer at Susby Internet Strategy is Google AdWords search marketing. We have worked with several clients to improve their eCommerce business and web traffic with this tool.

Recently we compiled a case study chronicling the progress of one of our eCommerce clients.  We increased conversions and lowered cost-per-click for our client, who now has a thriving online business. Have a look!

Google AdWords Case Study: Improving Conversions and Lowering Cost

Challenge
Decrease monthly spend and cost-per-click for client’s Google AdWords advertising initiatives while increasing clicks and conversions.

Results
In 2010, our client never received more than 18 many-per-click conversions in a month. In 2011 the lowest amount of many-per-click conversions received was 35, with the highest being 123.

AdWords Conversions Graph

The chart below shows the improvement in click-through rate for our client:

Click Through Rate Graph

Our client’s click-through rate increased tremendously once we took over the campaign. It is important to experiment with new advertising ideas from time to time, however, and this practice is reflected in the lower click-through rate seen in September 2011.

We have also significantly reduced our client’s cost-per-click:

Cost Per Click Graph

Our client had a 40% reduction in cost-per-click in 2011, with an average 2010 cost-per-click of $2.19 and a 2011 average of $1.32.

Success Summary:
In a nine-month period we drastically increased our client’s click-through rate and number of conversions while significantly reducing their cost-per-click to make their Google AdWords advertising efforts remarkably more effective.

AdWords statistics

We are Google AdWords Qualified and are available to help your business achieve eCommerce and web visibility successes like this one. Give us a call today at 415.305.6403. We look forward to working with you!

Clients, Marketing, Search

Trends in Mobile Search

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Mobile Search Trends
You probably use your mobile phone for the occasional web search. But have you thought about how much the search marketing landscape has changed since smartphones became ubiquitous?  Recent research on the difference in desktop and mobile search trends resulted in some fascinating statistics.

Desktop search peaks at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. while mobile search peaks at lunchtime and in the evening between 9:00 p.m. and midnight. Despite the difference in time of day, topics searched are the same on both platforms. eMarketer, a daily eNewsletter, projects a 65% increase in mobile ad spending since 2010, which is expected to increase exponentially in future years.

Categories of mobile ad spending from highest to lowest are currently ranked:
1. SMS
2. Banner ads
3. PPC Search
4. Video ads

Spending for video and banners is expected to be equal to search spending in 2012, with banners and video spending surpassing search in years following.

Mobile search has increased five-fold in just two years! Users are searching with the intent to take action, making neighborhood-targeted ads very effective in some cases.

And what about the future of mobile search? Revenue for mobile gigabytes is projected to decrease from $25/GB (now) to $5/GB by 2015. Carriers will likely need to develop new pricing models at that point, which will very likely result in changes in how we use our mobile phones.

Mobile, Search , ,

Social Media Marketing Book List

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When I teach classes I’m often asked if I have any book recommendations. While I hesitate to recommend books in a new media field, because the content changes frequently, I do read books and also have a wish list. Here are a few books to consider for getting started in Social Media Marketing.

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. Brought to us by the founders of the ever successful and highly popular HubSpot, this book covers everything you need to know to be a good digital citizen today. It includes tips on how to optimize your profile, content and general attitude in order to secure work in today’s competitive marketplace. It’s an easy read and well worth a listen if you prefer books on tape too.

Engage: Revised and Updated: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web by Brian Solis. I’m a Solis follower and fan and believe he knows his stuff from both traditional public relations, and new media. He was extremely influential in my getting started in this field and he said “Participation is marketing” before anyone really even understood what participation meant.

The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani. This is a fresh approach written by a very successful 25 year-old entrepreneur. I enjoyed the insights from many leading online marketers and entrepreneurs included in the book as well.

Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment by Jim Stern. This is a great introduction for tracking results in social media and how best to use the built in data to maximize your Return On Influence. Don’t miss this one.

Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit by Philip Kotler. A more academic look at the state of marketing today including and social media, sustainability and how businesses are solving new challenges today.

On the wish list:

Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition by Michael A. Stelzner

Success Secrets of Social Media Superstars by Mitch Meyerson

Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks) by Dave Kerpen

If you have read and/or are reading any of these books and would like to share your thoughts about them, please do so in the comments area below. Thanks.

Marketing, Social Media

Google AdWords Certified

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This is a belated announcement, but never-the-less important. We are proud to say that our very own Cariwyl Hebert is a Google AdWords Certified specialist. In order to achieve Google AdWords Certification one must study a series of lessons and then take a rigorous exam. Cariwyl passed the exam with flying colors and is our in-house AdWords specialist. We’re very proud of Cariwyl and very pleased to be able to offer this qualification to our valued clients.

If you are in need of Google AdWords assistance, please give us a call at 415.305.6403. Thank you!

business, Marketing, Search, Uncategorized , , ,

How to Leave a Group on LinkedIn

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You’ve joined several groups on LinkedIn and you’re feeling a little overwhelmed with all the email you’re getting from LinkedIn Groups, in addition to your already overflowing inbox.

Have you ever wondered how to leave a group?  It’s not totally intuitive right off the bat, so here’s a quick step by step guide:

  1. When logged into LinkedIn, choose Groups and then Your Groups from the options under Groups.
  2. Select the group you wish to remove yourself from
  3. Look for the More… tab at the top of the Groups page
  4. Click on More… and choose My Settings
  5. At the bottom right hand side of this page is a “Leave Group” button
  6. Click on that button to unsubscribe from the group.  Note that this will immediately remove you from the group.  You may of course join back again right away, but remember that you also may need to be accepted by the group administrator again if there is moderation on the group.

Also note that on the My Settings page you may adjust all the settings for how much email you receive from the group and how often you receive a digest

What are your favorite groups?  Would you care to share what you’ve learned and/or experienced by being part of a LinkedIn Group?

LinkedIn, Social Media ,

Social Media Marketing Certificate Program

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I’m very honored to be on the faculty with several highly accomplished people in the new Social Media Marketing Certificate Program that is starting next week at SF State’s College of Extended Learning. I planted the seed for this program two years ago and worked with Linda Popky of Leverage 2 Market and Lauren Vanett of SF State to get it going, so I’m very excited about the launch.

I’m teaching the intro course which is Introduction to Social Media: The Power of Community,  followed by George Kao‘s tools class called: Masting Social Media: 3 Essential Tools for the Business Professional in which students will understand how to use these three tools for effective business networking online. This course will greatly benefit small business owners, life and business coaches, independent business and marketing consultants, authors and speakers.  George is an excellent business and marketing coach with a track record for empowering people on the best tools and strategies in social media.

Then in March, Avery Horzewski of Ave Consulting will be teaching Engaging Your Community: Creating an Effective Social Media Campaign in which students will learn learn the essential do’s and don’ts for planning and executing effective social media campaigns that keep your community engaged and committed. Avery is also the president of Women in Consulting and Program Advisor for the SF State Social Media Program. She regularly speaks on social media, its impact on business, and implementation best practices and has a very impressive client list.

Our Social Media in the Real World: Successful Applications of Social Media Strategies will be taught by Jennifer Neely Lindsay of The A-List fame on Blogtalkradio in between visits to the middle east for training sessions she has scheduled there. Jennifer’s course will provide a closer look at the strategies and planning used by effective social media practitioners within organizations. Case studies and hands-on projects will reveal which strategies are most effective and why. You’ll learn to think strategically and adjust your plan to changes in the community conversation.

In the summer, we’ll be adding a Mobile Social course about social media marketing on mobile devices taught by Mario Tapia of Mobile Mondays Silicon Valley, as well as a capstone course with Linda Popky of Leverage 2 Market Associates titled Integrating Social Media into the Overall Marketing Strategy.

Our goal is to provide participants with a foundation in the new evolving world of social media tools and strategies that they can immediately apply in the workplace. It is sure to be fun and I’m excited to learn a lot from the students too.

For more information please visit the Social Media Marketing course pages.

Marketing, Social Media , ,
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