Reporting is an important part of PPC management.  The client (or upper management) needs to know if we are hitting goals, or at least making progress.  It also gives us the opportunity each month to prove our worth and hopefully continue to earn a paycheck.

For those PPC managers out there who are looking for automated PPC reporting, I have begun compiling a list of reporting tools/services (see the goodness below).  Full disclosure, I have not demoed all of these tools and the list does not go into the features and benefits of each service.  However, it does provide trial periods, pricing, contract lengths, and PPC Networks integration data.  Most of the data has been gathered from each tool provider’s website (links are included). Keep in mind that some tool providers work hard to keep this info secret so that you will have to contact them to get prices.  When doing so, it can be helpful to contact these providers before signing up as several are negotiable on price.

Obviously, not all of these prices can be compared apples to apples, as several of these reporting tools include bid management tools, which can provide a huge value, but can also drive the cost way up with percent of adspend costs of up to 5%.

The post 13 Tools to Crush PPC Reporting appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

At Avalaunch Media we’re usually asking people to share an infographic on their blog, with a tweet, a pin or a Facebook update. Preferably all of the above, or depending on what is the most relevant. In the process we’ve learned something about the process. To illustrate the point, I am going to use an example of trying to promote the following infographic to bloggers who write about sales. Keep this in mind as you read on. You can apply the principles to other types of content but overall we’ve found that images get shared most often online.

So, how can you avoid coming off as another one of the Takers and avoid getting your email deleted?

7 Ways to Get People to Delete your Pitch Email (without a second thought) 

1: You’re too vague.
Simply put, if you’re vague you make people try and figure out what you’re saying and what you want. So instead of being vague be as specific and brief as possible.  There are two tricks to doing this well: 1) you need to capture interest immediately and 2) you need to get to the point quickly but without sounding pushy.  That is easier to say than do.

2: Your subject line sucks.
A Bad example of a subject line for the infographic above - ”Here’s something interesting about sales.”

Good example - ”For your blog: the Secrets of Sales Performance”

Can you see why the second example is so much more effective? Not only does it identify the purpose of the email (a la,”For your blog”), it also hints to the worthiness of the information (a la, “Secrets of Sales Performance”).

3: You lost me (why would I care about this?)
Highlighting individual statistics from the graphic (that would be really interesting to the blogger or journalist) is much more effective than trying to sell a description of the entire graphic. It may be the source (information from Harvard Business Review is more credible than an outdated or unrecognized source).

Example of a less effective pitch -

I thought you’d be interested in a new infographic from Work.com titled “Motivating Sales Pros.”  It contains everything you’d ever want to know about helping sales staff set and reach goals and you can see it here http://work.com/sales_performance/secrets_of_sales_performance…

More effective pitch – (this one got a response) -

4: You made it too hard. TLDR = too long didn’t read
The easier you can make it for someone to do what you are asking of them, the more likely it is that they will do it. Keep it simple. Just like you, people are busy. If they see a long email or if you’re not clear on what you’re asking, they probably won’t waste their time.

In the example of the successful pitch above, the blogger asked me to provide 3-4 prewritten tweets to choose from. She could edit them as she wanted. Even though initially she agreed to just one, she sent three. Why? because I made it easy and relevant. I looked at her Twitter account to see the types of things she wrote and would appeal to her audience. It paid off. So offer to do a little extra.

Continuing with the more effective pitch example above:

“If you think this data would enhance the article you wrote in March about Motivating Sales Employees (insert url), please feel free to share it on your blog using the following embed code (insert embed code) or on Twitter using one of the following tweets (insert Tweet option 1 and Tweet option 2).”

I did three things here

1) provided embed code,
2) provided two different pre-written tweets, and
3) found a relevant way to make her blog a better place!

People simply don’t want to have to work to share your information.  So, make it as easy as possible.

5: You’re ‘all take no give’.

Our outreach team has found that influencers in particular are almost always looking for a mutual benefit.  So, do your homework and find someway in which you can scratch their back.  One of the best questions you can ask yourself is, “Can I meaningfully-leverage my audience to help them”?  Find that meaningful leverage and then help them in a way that doesn’t feel manipulative. In other words, make them feel like you like their stuff  and would happily share it with no strings attached.

Continuing with the more effective pitch example above: she asked if in return we’d tweet a new whitepaper she’d written to our audience. Retweet their work. Share their posts on your Facebook page with your comments and otherwise try to help them out. You can also let them know you helped them out in advance, like this:

“By the way, I sincerely enjoyed reading your stuff!  I followed you on Twitter earlier and couldn’t resist sharing your article (insert url) with my followers (insert tweet url).  Great case study in more effective cold calling!”

6: You assume people will remember you or know of your importance.
Just remember, there are times you will be reaching out to a person that you might “know”, the problem is influencers “know” a lot of people without hardly “knowing” any of them.  Make sense?  So, identify yourself in a way that transfers meaning.  Don’t sign the email “Dave in Salt Lake City”.  Sign the email with your name, your company, your position within the company, and a couple of social media links which allow the influencer to quickly ‘vet the source’.  This reminds them that there is a reason they should “know” you and that scratching your back might be worth the effort!

Continuing with the more effective pitch example above:

Best,

Full Name

Important position, Credible Company

Social Media Profiles
*see my fairly impressive social footprint

7: You sent the pitch to the wrong blogger (didn’t fit). 

Even though on my blog Newspapergrl I write about pr and marketing, I still get the occasional random pitch for something like a book review request for an author of a romance. Not going to happen. Plus I’m annoyed with you for not even getting close.

The best is when you find the perfect fit. The topic and the blogger are in alignment. The stars line up. When you have great content, a solid pitch and a blogger that is interested in the topic, you might not need a lot of explanation.

Here’s an example of an actual pitch to a media outlet that covers environmental news in Utah for an infographic about Utah’s air quality. This was submitted via a contact form:

I have an infographic that I asked the company I work for (Avalaunch Media) to create, illustrating lots of research about air pollution in Utah.
Would you like to run it? Let me know and I’ll send it over. I just need your email so I can send it as an attachment, or I can post it on our site and just send the link.
Thanks
Janet

And this is what I got back right away:

We are interested and will review.  Please email to [email address] and someone will have a look.

For your reference, the entire pitch:

Subject: For your blog: Secrets of Sales Performance

Body:

[Blogger's name]

Since you blog about sales, I wanted you to know about some of the more powerful statistics in this new Work.com infographic about motivating sales pros:

• Less than 55% of employees make their sales quotas
• 60% of companies don’t provide new hires milestones or goals
• 95% of employees don’t understand their employer’s strategy

To see more: http://work.com/sales_performance/secrets_of_sales_performance

If you think this data would enhance the article you wrote about Motivating Sales Employees (insert url), please feel free to share it on your blog using the following embed code (insert embed code) or on Twitter using one of the following tweets (insert Tweet option 1 and Tweet option 2).

By the way, I sincerely enjoyed reading your stuff!  I followed you on Twitter earlier and couldn’t resist sharing your article (insert url) with my followers (insert tweet url).  Great case study in more effective cold calling!”

Best,

Full Name

Important position, Credible Company

Social Media Profiles*
*see my fairly impressive social footprint

 That’s it.  7 Simple Steps to not getting your pitch deleted!  Happy outreaching. And if you have any tips for us, please leave them in the comments.

The post 7 Ways to Make Sure Someone Deletes your Email Pitch appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

Imagine…. Its 8am, Monday morning and you arrive at work to find that SEO traffic has plummeted.  What are the first places you would look to begin diagnosing the problem?

I’d start at my local listings. My business is local search driven. I’d check to see if they were up and running. Then I’d look at my website. Look for errors. Look for bad script. Look at the .htacces, robot permissions, website logs. If that doesn’t solve it, then I’d retrace recent updates to our website. Any glaring mistakes would be fixed immediately. If nothing is glaring then I’d check twitter for SEO chatter on updates.

There are a number of things that can cause your website traffic to drop, or seem to drop. Things like the simple error of removing analytics code, to bigger errors like adding a “NOINDEX” to all of a sites pages. Trace your steps, and the activity of anyone that has access to your site. Look at your own activity and logs before screaming and ranting at the “SEO Demons”.

If you were to guide an enterprise-level SEO on their budget, what would you suggest be in it?

Money. =) … Everything would really depend on the budget and the company. Are they a location based service? Are they a brand that wants an online shopping cart? Do they want more “branding”? You always have to start with an understanding of where they are now and where they want to be. I’d then look at where they are strongest. What service or product are they best at, or best known for? I’d look at what customers most talk about online, both the good and the bad. Then I’d follow with what service or product gives them the best margins. Lastly I’d compare that data to what is easiest to achieve success for online. For example, Nike is best known for shoes. Hypothetically, their Elin Woods Golf Clubs are getting rave reviews. Where do they rank for shoes? Where do they rank for Golf Clubs? Which needle can we get to move the most with the least effort? How much does the effort cost and what is the potential gain?

To put that in a budget bullet point:

• Online Listening
• Website Performance Tracking
• Site Maintenance/Upgrades
• Content Creation
• Content Promotion
• Paid Search

The amount for each of these will vary based on the sophistication of the site and company. Enterprise companies may also have silos between SEO and Paid Search. Break that down. That data needs to be shared. Paid search is an SEO data mine for the digging. The SEO team and website maintenance may also exist in different departments. Restructure that. If the company is not running all of these areas in sync then add that reformation to my budget.

What SEO metrics do you report on to upper management that other in-house SEOs should use as well?

My CEO and I have a close relationship. It really helps to have a CEO understand the value of SEO. That understanding is actually the burden of the SEO, more so than the CEO. Learn to speak in numbers and dollars then your CEO will understand your SEO.

I report on internet marketing costs and how the cost is trending.

I report on the cost per acquisition.

I report on the trending cost per acquisition.

I report on if internet sales are above or below our target cost per acquisition.

I report on total sales marked as “internet” this month compared to like month of the past year.

What metrics do you follow within the SEO team that every enterprise-level in-house SEO should monitor?

Total cost for the team. Total revenues generated by the team. Is it profitable?

Here is the real meat and potatoes, no matter what your boss says is your budget, you won’t have a job if your budget does not produce profits. Granted you have to please the boss. Some bosses aren’t willing to share, or don’t really know. Figure it out. If your average online sale is $10 and it takes $10 to produce that sale you are loosing. If it takes $1 to produce that sale but the margin is only 10% then you are likely loosing.

The other trends are nice to know (website traffic, time on site, pages indexed, bounce rates) but they are all secondary to the big question of “Are we profitable?” That is the real number to know. That is the only number that ultimately counts. “Are your efforts profitable?” You must know this number. You live or die by this number. If you choose to ignore this or if you run from this number then you are running from your job. Tie all of your efforts as closely as possible to profits.

What do you wish someone had told you when you started as an in-house SEO that would have propelled your SEO program to the next level faster?

Make friends and keep learning. Early on in one’s SEO career it is easy to find a single way to win. There are so many ways to win. But believing just because you are winning now that you’ve got it down is a mistake of arrogant ignorance. Humble down a bit and realize that there are others that are winning and in ways you have not yet discovered. Make friends. Keep learning. Keep winning.

What is some of the great advice you learned from other in-housers? How important is it to interact with other in-house SEOs?

I don’t know that I can name any one particular thing that I have learned, there have been so many along the way. Each specific to challenges from different SEO eras. But here goes…

Keep secrets. I personally try keep all the good stuff to myself and I don’t ever share my golden nuggets… STOP. I’m Kidding…like a pest control guy has golden nuggets…

But really, share golden advice in confidence. I can share what I have experienced at Bulwark Exterminating, but I won’t share my friends enlightenment on what Shopzilla, Ebay, or Home Depot experiences. So know who you can trust, and make yourself trustworthy. Because of this, it’s hard to pinpoint some of those golden nuggets that I’ve pick up. Actually they may not even be nuggets they may be gold flakes. But collect enough gold flakes in the friend stream and you can be richer than the guy looking for a gold bar in the public stream.

So yes, sharing with other in-house SEOs is priceless. Tthe ability to reach out and get a general consensus from your SEO peers is a great asset. The collective knowledge of who you know and who you share with is by far one of the best sources of info you will ever find. I rely more on those insiders than I do on any given SEO blog.

(…if any of my SEO friends read this, Thank You. Sincerly, I thank you for yet another great year)

What is one site you envy and would put in the SEO Hall of Fame? Why?

Facebook. Because they beat the SEO game the day they said “screw you” to the search engines. Any website that can learn to exist without search traffic has won the SEO game. In fact, that is my next game.

Perhaps that is a dodge on that question. There are a lot of great websites out there that win at SEO. I don’t know that I have a particular favorite. Usually the ones that I notice or watch are the ones that I see winning in new ways. I thoroughly enjoy picking through any website that is consistently beating the machines. I learn a lot by simply paying attention as I surf the web.

And I should give credit to Mat Siltala with Avalaunchmedia.com. He has opened my eyes to the possibilities of referral traffic and social media. Having shared with me the percentage of traffic his site gets from search versus social and referral. I am indeed awed on how well diversified his traffic is. It truly is my goal to be able to exist online without search traffic.

________________

-Thomas Ballantyne
Director of Marketing for Bulwark Exterminating
Follow me on Twitter —> @Thos003
Thomas Ballantyne works with Bulwark Exterminating. He developed their first site and has moved Bulwark from ranking as a small Phoenix Pest Control company to competing nationally for pest control. He’s spoken at both SMX and Pubcon conferences, as well as other smaller SEO events. He’s also a fan of Avalaunch Media and has used them for some pesty infographics.

 

The post Interview of Pest Control Guy by SEOinHouse appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

Anyway, I wanted to share the slide deck from the event here, where I talked about “Growing Your Brand With Pinterest”.  I also wanted to share a few pictures from the event (below) sorry just low quality iPhone ones … didn’t feel like hauling the big DSLR with me this time.  The presentation has already got amazing response on Slideshade so I hope you enjoy it too!  I really did my best to share some actionable information that can help any business do better with Pinterest marketing.

Other presentations I enjoyed (by the way there were a TON of good ones, I just especially enjoyed these):

• Darren Shaw - Review Tactics for local ranking
• Ian Lurie - Content is a product 
• Joanna Lord – Digital Evangelism
• John Doherty  - The Price of Technical SEO Debt
• Justin Briggs  - Technical Hacks for Content Marketing
• Jonathon Colman – Why our Content Sucks
• Will Scott – Facebook Marketing – Spreading the Love (with some non SearchFest sanctioned slides)
• Rhea Drysdale – Social Media Analytics 
• Russ Hudgens – E-Commerce Content Marketing for Search

Always nice to be checking out a presentation and your company gets a “shout out” Great job again to Luke for putting together that reference for everyone.

The post Growing Your Brand With Pinterest – My SearchFest 2013 Presentation appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

The only real question is; what should her title be? We thought of a few possibilities:

• Yeti Handler
• Chief of Idea Generation
• Guru of Brainstorming
• Director of Buzz Creation
• Chief Pinner
• Creator of Media Placements
• Low Carb Office Treats Officer

Regardless of her title, we’ll look to Janet to promote our infographics and viral content with the media, bloggers and through social media. And, for now, we did decide on a title — Brand Ambassador.

Since we’re big on communicating concepts visually, please say hello and get to know Janet:

What she says she loves most about working for Avalaunch is that she gets to dream ideas, let someone else create them, and then promote the end product. 

The post Welcoming Janet Thaeler Avalaunch Style appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

Categorizing vs. Tagging

Who better to ask about how to use categories and tags than WordPress?  When discussing “Categories vs. Tags”, this is what WordPress says:

“Tags are similar to categories, but they are generally used to describe your post in more detail.”

One good example that helps to illustrate the above is how a food blog might organize itself.  Below may be how a food blog may be organized.

Categories

Dessert, Entree, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack

Tags

Chicken, Beef, Milk, Cereal, Whip Cream, Beans, Potatoes, Butter

So you can see the categories are more about what type of a meal or meal it is, where tags get more into what is in the actual food itself.  You usually want to stick with as few of categories as possible where you can usually use as many tags that make sense. Less is definitely more whenever possible.

Consistency Preserves Organization & Usability

Once you understand how categories and tags work, you now have to prevent them from getting out of control. Your categories and tags can start getting out of control if you don’t take the time to organize your posts properly.  Take the time to organize every post.

Organize Up Front & Lay the Smack Down

I recommend creating your categories and tags up front when possible. This can make it much easier to keep your blog organized, especially when you have multiple authors.

Once you’ve organized your categories and tags, you may have to train your authors and lay the smack down to help keep your blog organized. You need to train/restrict any contributors from breaking the organization when possible.

Usability

When your blog is organized well, the category lists and tag clouds actually add to the usability of the site and make it easier for your visitors to find what they’re looking for. Better overall organization of your site can give you more time with your readers.

Search Engines

When considering the search engines you need to address the following:

1. Original Content/Pages
2. Link Juice & Link Bleeding
3. Best Links are Relevant Links in Content
4. Category & Tag Pages Can Rank Well

Original Content/Pages

Writing original content isn’t the hard part. What I’m referring to here has more to do with your index and archive pages. It’s essential that you don’t have duplicate categories and tags, duplicate can also pertain to synonyms. Search engines (Google), understand similar phrases.  If you start categorizing and tagging using synonyms you’ll create the same index and archive pages which will then be considered duplicate content because they will list the same posts on them. You will then eventually get the duplicate content penalty on those pages and they’ll be worthless.

Don’t duplicate or synonymies your categories and tags! 

Link Juice & Link Bleeding

Each page of your site starts with 100% of the page’s total link value and that value is divided among the links on the page. To get the most out of the links on your page you want to minimize the link bleeding.  Link bleeding refers to link value being sent to worthless pages like your contact page, about page, etc. Every link on the page decreases the total value passed through each link, so less links adds more value to each link.

Category Lists & Tag Clouds Bleed Link Juice

Category List Widgets, Tag Cloud Widgets, and Widgets in general bleed link juice. Adding nofollow tags to your category and tag widget links specifically  can prevent the bleed and add more link value to the more important links on the page.

Widgets are meant for usability! Nofollow widget links to preserve link value!

Best Links are Relevant Links in Content

We know that relevant links within the article’s content itself hold more value with the search engines. Whenever possible, link within your content.

Post Meta Category Links & Tag Links Pass Relevant Juice

The category and tag links usually listed in the top or bottom of your posts will pass more relevant juice to the categories and tags for the posts themselves so use these links to help the category and tag pages rank better. This can also help lift relevant rankings to any other posts belonging to these categories and tags.

Category & Tag Pages Can Rank Well

If you do things effectively, you can see your category and tag pages rank better than other pages on your site. Some of the reason these pages rank so well are:

1. These pages are continually adding new content to them so they’re changing. This provokes the search engine to crawl them more often.
2. Every post usually links to it’s parent category and tag pages creating a solid internal linking structure. This can pass a lot of juice to these pages.
3. Categories and Tags can have multiple pages with tons of content within them.

One thing to keep in mind is that some SEO plugins may place noarchive and noindex tags on your category and tag pages so make sure to adjust the settings accordingly if you are trying to rank those pages.

Don’t miss out on the potential rankings your category and tag pages have!

Whatchu Think?

Any feedback? How are you using categories and tags? Any experience or expertise you want to add to this article? Please share it below. Any questions? If this was helpful and/or you have a friend that could benefit from this article, share it with them. We’ve made it easy to do. Just click on the social buttons.

The post Categories vs. Tags: Usage, Organization & SEO appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

Crossfit:
If you haven’t done Crossfit yet, you’ve no doubt heard about it … and if you have done it, you’re no doubt hooked. Though Crossfit is often thought to simply be a rugged style of working out, it’s actually a brand of workouts that thrives via a series of franchised gyms that have burst into the mainstream. Having gone from 3,000 gyms in 2011 to over 5,000 in 2012, you can bet their numbers will grow exponentially in 2013, as the previous years of growth continue to gain momentum.

IMG SOURCE: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ2TyOJa3hhY0AjbOM1Gz9WVBmMZ7YfN01uoKTNxSrxgGQX4pjQ

Tough Mudder:
Speaking of crazy fitness trends the gritty “endurance” event known as Tough Mudder is a brand that is most definitely looking to make waves in 2013. Launched just two years ago, the ambitious brand is already boasting $70 million in revenue and, having just inked a deal with Under Armour in late 2012, it looks as if they’re just getting started.

IMG SOURCE: https://www.xtuple.com/sites/default/files/images/Tough-Mudder-orange-border1.jpg

Chrysler:
Just when you thought the old and tired brand of Chrysler was down and out, they’ve recently endeavored into a whole knew re-branding effort that is just now being fully realized in 2013. Yes, in the midst of the economic turmoil that was killing the auto industry over the past few years, rather than fold, Chrysler has refreshingly paired up with a number of athletes and entertainers, including Detroit rapper Eminem and the “Imported from Detroit” campaign, to both elevate and reinvent the notoriously aged brand.

By standing by their long-standing American roots and pairing it with both high design and quality advertising (courtesy of Wieden + Kennedy), they’ve turned an old and tired brand into a cultural movement. Don’t believe us, did you see their many Super Bowl ads.

IMG SOURCE: http://www.ramjilaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Chrysler.jpg

Land Rover:
Continuing in the vain of automobiles, while Land Rover has always been a respected brand (due to its luxurious appeal), the fact of the matter is that they haven’t released a new model in over a decade. That said, rather than continue with business as usual, Land Rover just proudly released a new and improved model of Range Rover in October of 2012 and underwent a change in ownership. These two new elements combined, Land Rover has already seen exponential growth in both established and developing markets – and it’s only January!

IMG SOURCE: http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Land-Rover-DC100.jpeg

Facebook:
While you might think that Facebook has peaked (based on its underwhelming stock market performance in 2012), don’t count them out just yet because they have plenty of innovation up their sleeve! Between having recently launched a search platform that aims to challenge Google and the intriguing murmurs that Facebook is scheming up a phone that will battle Apple, it will be interesting to see if Facebook can make a resurgence in 2013 or if they’ll continue to decline.

IMG SOURCE: http://i1.wp.com/boygeniusreport.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/facebook-sign-89.jpg?w=870

Square:
As independent retailers are realizing that accepting credit cards is, in fact, much easier than baking a pie, an exponential amount of Mom & Pops are embracing the highly accessible technology. Of course, leading the pack of mobile payments is Square – a lean credit card processor with no frills and irreplaceable function.

Entering the New Year with $341 million in funding, having processed $10 billion in 2012 and having recently announced partnerships with Starbucks, AT&T and Angie’s List, this forward-thinking brand is just getting started. Look for a huge 2013!

IMG SOURCE: http://www.nik-it.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/square.jpg

Smart Watches:
If we’re being honest, you can probably insert any number of brands into this category head, however, it’s most important that we highlight the booming trend of the smart watch. According to CNET, 2013 has been deemed The Year of the Smart Watch because of the sharp advancements in technology, as well as, overall consumer comfort with the device. With the ability to tell time, sync with your calendar, access your social sites, double as a phone, etc, look for brands such as Cookoo, I’m Watch, Martian and Basis Science to burst onto the scene.

IMG SOURCE: http://phandroid.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cookoo-watch2.jpg

The Oregon Ducks:
While it’s not your typical clothing company or tech start-up, The Oregon Ducks (college football) are a case-study-worthy brand that has absolutely skyrocketed over the past few years … and 2013 will be no different. Standing as Nike’s poster child darling, The Ducks boast the kind of high-flying offense that justifies their ultra flashy, never-worn-twice uniforms from the future. Yes, while they’ve recently suffered the loss of their highly touted head coach, Chip Kelly, to the NFL, the brand, players and signature style of play are still in tact and primed to attract national attention, well beyond their alumni.

IMG SOURCE: http://loadpaper.com/large/Football_wallpapers_244.jpg

Hyundai:
When you think of the leading “economy” car companies, it’s easy to think of the major players such as Honda, Toyota, Nissan and others but what about Hyundai? Historically, this South Korean brand has operated in the shadows of the brands above, however, with 17% increase in sales in the fourth quarter of 2012, due to the launch of the 2013 HCD-14 Genesis (and it’s liquid metal technology), they have officially reinvented the Hyundai wheel and have set themselves up for big success in 2013.

IMG SOURCE: http://cdn.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hyundai_hcd14-11.jpg?11971d

Btwn Wind & Water:
Last but not least is a brand new brand that was just born in early 2012 but was charging at full speed by the end of the year. Btwn Wind & Water is a handmade accessory line that is devoted to simple details and timeless materials and although they just hit the scene, the high-end fashion line has been received extremely well (featured in countless notable fashion blogs and cutting edge tradeshows). Look for this brand to become a household name in 2013!

IMG SOURCE: http://www.ecouterre.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/btwn-wind-and-water.jpg

We hope you’ve enjoyed this list of ambitious up-and-comers in 2013. Although there are many businesses out there, these are certainly the ones to keep an eye on and, who knows, maybe even learn a thing or two from.

The post 10 Brands to Keep an Eye On In 2013 appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

Last updated – 4/2/13 – I’ve marked my top 5 most useful posts with ***

From Google Themselves:

• The Official Announcement – Google
• Official Site on Enhanced Campaigns - Google
• Webinar Series on Enhanced Campaigns - Google
• Enhanced Campaigns Upgrade Guide (PDF) – Google
• Enhanced Campaigns for Display – Google

Articles That Will Best Help You Prepare

• Enhanced Campaigns Upgrade Guide (PDF) – Google ***
• Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns: The Good, Bad & Uncool - Search Engine Watch – Alistair Dent
• Google Announces Big Changes to Mobile Ad Campaign Management - WordStream – Larry Kim
• PPC Chat: Enhanced Pay Per Click Campaigns Streamcap – #PPCChat
• Key Takeaways You Need to Know About Adwords Enhanced Campaigns – Exclusive Concepts – Matt Umbro
• Enhanced Campaigns: The New Bidding Challenges and Opportunities – RKG – George Michie ***
• Using Mobile Keyword URL’s in Enhanced Campaigns – PPC Epiphany – Martin Roettgerding
• EC and The Need For a Proper Landing Page Structure – DAC Group – Amy Bishop
• Fine-Tuning Bid Modifiers With Enhanced Campaigns – PPC Hero – Kayla Kurtz
• EC: Product Listing Ads Now on Smartphones – Search Engine Land – Ginny Marvin
• Context is King… Or at Least Duke – Rimm-Kaufman Group – George Michie
• EC: New Bidding Tools Announced – Search Engine Land – Ginny Marvin
• How Enhanced Campaigns May Affect Your Analytics – Search Engine Land – Benny Blum ***
• Geographic Targeting in an Enhanced Campaign World – Search Engine Land – Brad Geddes ***
• EC: Offer Extensions & Location Targeting Explained – Search Engine Land – Ginny Marvin
• Workarounds to Make Enhanced Campaigns More Flexible – Search Engine Land – Frederick Vallaeys
• Adwords Launches New Keyword Bulk Upload Feature – Search Engine Land – Ginny Marvin
• Upgraded Extensions – Search Engine Journal – Jason Bruggemann

When to Upgrade to Enhanced Campaigns

• Should You Upgrade To AdWords Enhanced Campaigns – Search Engine Land – Brad Geddes ***
• Google Enhanced Campaigns and Bid Vectors: Switch Now or Later? - ClickZ – Kevin Lee

Enhanced Campaigns – Pros

•  Google Announces Big Changes to Mobile Ad Campaign Management – WordStream – Larry Kim
• Adwords Enhanced Campaigns: How Can I Protest Something I Haven’t Yet Used? – Traffick.com – Andrew Goodman
• Here’s The Real Reason Google Changed Its Mobile Search Rules – Business Insider – Jim Edwards
• Enhanced Campaign Silver Linings: Geo Targeting – PPC Hero – Amanda Westbrook
• It’s Change and It’s For the Better With Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns – Spyder Trap – Nate Knox

Enhanced Campaigns – Cons

• Listen Up Google: Here are My Demands – Fathom – Brittany Amato
• Why Enhanced Campaigns Aren’t Really An Upgrade Or Improvement – Search Engine Land – Neil Sorenson
• Is Google Getting Ready to Change the Ad Rules Again – BlueGlass – Richard Zwicky
• Google Enhanced Campaigns | Don’t Believe the Hype – Zen Search Marketing – Jeff Loquist
• Petition to “Provide more advertiser options” with Enhanced Campaigns – Change.org – Neil Sorenson
• Fury at Google: Advertisers Say New Search Rules Are “Stealing” From Them – Business Insider – Jim Edwards
• Are Tablets Mobile Devices? How Will Google’s Changes in AdWords Impact Advertisers – Adobe – Bill Mungovan
• Enhanced Campaigns for Mobiles: Why the AdWords world as we know it is going to End – Passion Digital

Enhanced Campaigns – Neutral

• Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns: The Good, Bad & Uncool – Search Engine Watch – Alistair Dent
• Google’s Enhanced Campaigns Inspire Love, Hate and Hope for The Next Version – Search Engine Land – Pamela Parker
• First Reaction to AdWords Enhanced Campaigns – SEER Interactive – Aaron Levy
• Google Enhanced Campaigns: A Flawed Step in the Right Direction – RimmKaufman.com – Mark Ballard
• In Big Shift Google Aims to Boost Mobile Ad Campaigns and Revenues – Forbes – Robert Hof
• Google Revamps AdWords in Nod to Mobile Device Explosion – Gigaom – Barb Darrow
• Google Just Blasted Away the Wall Between Desktop and Mobile Ads – Business Insider – Owen Thomas
• The Big Adwords Update: Enhanced Campaigns Puts the Focus on Mobile – Search Engine Land – Ginny Marvin
• Google to Force You To Go Mobile – PPC Hero – Sam Owens
• The Scoop on Enhanced Campaigns (good and bad) – PPC Associates – Susan Waldes
• Google’s “Enhanced” Campaigns”? – Datapop – Alex Dao
• Google Revamps Adwords in Bid to Boost Mobile Ad Revenue – Ad Age – Cotton Delo
• Enhanced Campaigns Storified – Storify – Katie Saxon
• Google Upgrade is a Tidal Wave for Advertisers – Wired – Ryan Tate
• Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns Roll Out – How Does This Affect Your Adspend – Three Deep Marketing – Jeff Sauer
• Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns: What You Need to Know – Righteous Marketing – Nathan Sansby
• The Great Enhanced Campaigns War of 2013: The Surprising Winner – ClickZ – Andrew Goodman

We will be updating this as often as we can so come bookmark and come back later!

If you have any site’s we’ve missed add them in the comments and we’ll add ASAP.

The post Adwords Enhanced Campaigns Resource appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

This problem goes way beyond this business not receiving my money.  Let me be very clear, that by not paying attention and monitoring the activity on your website, you can get penalized (even banned from Google) for spammy activity.

Imagine if you were browsing the web and come across this site, and took a look at their guestbook… Would you feel safe filling out their form? If you are like me, you might actually be wondering if they are even in business anymore since they don’t maintain their website. The point is, the site does not do a very good job of making you feel comfortable calling them and that is where they lose business. What if those links are pointing you to porn? If you own this business I can’t imagine that is what you want.

You must monitor and maintain your website.

This reminds me of…

My Mom use to leave a bowl of candy out during Halloween (when she couldn’t be there to pass it out) and she would leave a note saying, “Please only take one.” Of course, the next day at school some of my friends would make comments like “tell your Mom thanks for all of the candy.’”  You would like to think that people are going to play nice, but many are not, and this is why you must monitor and maintain a website.

So I beg you, if you are a small local business with a website, go check it out now.  Make sure your site is not full of comment spam or garbage like this.  It does not take much time to look over your website once a day to make sure nothing is wrong.  Get in that habit and you will convert customers when they hit your site.

The post Don’t let Google catch you with your website’s pants down appeared first on Avalaunch Media.

1. Passing the share test.  There is one underlying reason infographics rule when it comes to effective content marketing strategies; images share better than any other content medium.  In fact, according to StruckAxiom, images are shared 10 times more than video!  So, the first and last question when it comes to preparing and promoting an infographic really should be, “Will this share?”  The good news is that you don’t need a crystal ball to make that call.  Just a couple of days ago, our very own Janet Meiners Thaeler, wrote a great post titled “7 Ways to Get an Endless Stream of Infographic Ideas” and honestly it could have been titled “7 Ways to Determine Whether Your Infographic Will Pass the Share Test.”  Why?  Because she believes that great infographic ideas are rooted around conversations people are having online and in the media.  Knowing a conversation is taking place online and in the media is a pretty solid sign that people will share your graphic if it adds meaning and perspective to the conversation!

Example: People are and will always be talking about losing weight.  And you can make a pretty safe bet that an effective data visualization dissection about a popular diet or exercise technique will get shared if it adds meaning and perspective to the conversation about that technique.  This is exactly why this visual dissection of The Paleo Diet has been viewed several hundred thousand in the last few weeks.

Click on graphic to see full version

2. Make one over all point. I think one of the most common infographic blunders is to try and be everything to everybody on some giant topic.  What happens?  You end up with a crazy-long-infographic that moves from one topic to another and leaves people wondering what they just saw.  To my earlier point, infographics that share generally make one point very well and leave people thinking, “I’ve never thought about that” or “that was an interesting perspective” or “I didn’t know that and I bet my network doesn’t either.”

Case in point: Novell wanted to let the world know just one thing right before CES this January — a lot of the 150,000 show attendees were about to either lose or have their mobile device stolen.  That’s why this graphic tells just one story making it effective for its specific purpose (to steal a little of the CES chatter that was everywhere).

Click on graphic to see full version

3. Everyone loves a great visual comparison. Did you know that the average weight of a humpback whale’s heart is 430 pounds?  That is a cool statistic, right?  But doesn’t it seem a lot more impressive if I show you that the whale’s heart weighs as much as three average adult human beings combined?

Need another example? Here is one of my favorite recent comparison graphics, which we came up with for Ski Utah a few weeks ago.  Just admit it, everything looks more interesting next to a giraffe!

4. Find ways to spark controversy.  People love a good debate.  And online, behind the relative safety that comes with anonymity, you have a lot of people that fancy themselves world-class-debaters.  So, you might as well use this phenomenon to your advantage.

For example: When we took on the “Evolution of the Electric Guitar” we purposely decided to throw in the Guitar Hero Controller because we knew that musicians would probably take issue with its insertion but “gamers” would be big fans.  Wouldn’t you know it… check out all those feisty comments.

Those are four of my go-to’s for developing awesome infographics.  One good turn deserves another, so please tell me a few of your favorite techniques in the comments!

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