Nothing Beats Buying Sporting Goods Wholesale!

Today’s smartest shoppers are not paying retail prices for sporting goods.  Why should you?  If you know where to look, you can get a whole array of sporting goods at wholesale prices.  That means you’re only going to pay about half of what you would at a retail location, and you can still get the same high-quality sporting goods you would at said retail location.  Most wholesale shops carry liquidation, overstock and closeouts of brand name and department store merchandise.  These goods are still of the highest caliber; they’re usually just older models that were not sold or merchandise from shops that need to close for some reason or another.

Additionally, shops that sell sporting goods at wholesale prices usually have a huge inventory of sporting goods, exercise equipment, pool tables, hockey tables, bicycles, and more.  Not only that, but shopping in wholesale sporting goods stores allows you to take advantage of big savings on major name-brand sporting goods.  Why pay thousands of dollars for a new golf club at a major retail location if you can get the same one for as low as several hundred?  When I put it that way, it doesn’t make much sense, does it? 

Shops that offer wholesale sporting goods are allover the place.  If you don’t know whether or not there are any in your area try searching the Yellowpages or the Internet.  Just look out for the shops that require a minimum purchase order, usually a certain quantity or dollar amount.  The good news is that many wholesale sporting goods shops are beginning to open their doors to individual customers wanting to buy only one or two pieces of equipment, so anyone can take advantage of their closeout prices. 

Don’t forget to comparison-shop either; not all wholesale shops are created equal, and neither are their prices.  Remember, buying brand-name sporting equipment isn’t really necessary, but if you can get them and pay wholesale prices for them, why miss out on such a great opportunity?  Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions.  If a certain wholesale shop doesn’t appear to carry the specific style of equipment you’re seeking, ask about other styles; most of these shops have huge inventories so it is very likely they have something comparable to what you’re looking for.  Many will even go out of their way to locate specific products you want.  Just ask.  The worst they can say is “no.”  Happy shopping!

Why You Should Let Verticals Help Boost Your ROI

Vertical search, which has steadily gained user traction over the past few years, is about to explode.  Jupiter Research predicted two years ago that vertical search would drive industry growth and so far they’re pretty right on.  Outsell conducted a study just last year titled “Vertical Search Delivers What Big Search Engines Miss” which reinforced Jupiter’s claim that vertical search engines (VSEs) have a huge potential for growth due in large part to user dissatisfaction with the big guys, i.e. Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

As marketers, you’re much better off spending your ad dollars advertising on VSEs rather than on the broad-based search engines for several reasons, the three biggest being 1) the difference in advertising costs, 2) the difference in the types of traffickers that click through, and 3) the interactivity they offer.  Advertising on VSEs is sure to boost your return on investment (ROI).  Let’s take a closer look at what VSEs have to offer versus the other guys.

Advertising on VSEs is Cost Effective

According to Sapna Satagopan, a research associate over at Jupiter Research, “Increasing competition and rising keyword prices should motivate search marketers to look for newer, viable opportunities to diversify their incoming traffic.”  Google currently gets approximately 97% of its revenue from paid search, but the competition for certain keywords is so fierce that prices are being driven sky-high, far beyond the reach of most small advertisers.  The result is that many advertisers are being completely priced out of the market, a gargantuan mistake on Google’s end since they’re missing out on a huge opportunity to cater to these small and mid-sized businesses. 

That is where VSEs come in.  Because they’re smaller and more specialized, keyword competition isn’t nearly as cutthroat and your ad dollars have the potential to stretch much further.  Marketers can expect much higher clickthroughs and conversions on their search ads and a higher ROI on their marketing campaigns to boot.

Quality, Not Quantity

While VSEs don’t generate the massive amounts of traffic that the general engines can deliver, they can still increase your click-to-sale ratios.  This is because verticals are highly specialized and cater to niche-audiences.  They are industry-specific.  What this means for you is that you’ll be reaching a much more targeted audience.  People conducting searches on verticals are typically in “hunt mode” meaning that they’re likely to be somewhere in the buying cycle.  For example, a user searching for vehicles on Edmunds.com, an automobile vertical, is probably considerably more serious about buying a car than say someone on Google. 

Additionally, keywords specific to certain industries will yield much more relevant results on VSEs as opposed to the general engines.  The broad-based engines are so enormous with all of the universal information they’re fit to index that many search queries yield meaningless results.  Their Web crawlers must discern what’s relevant for millions upon millions of websites, so it’s simply not possible for a certain keyword to give every person exactly what they’re looking for.  Not so on VSEs.  VSEs use customized algorithms and search strings sending spiders out to highly refined databases where indexes contain information about very specific topics.  On VSEs, your customers will find you right away, and more relevant clickthroughs lead to higher conversion rates which will ultimately increase your click-to-sale ratio.

VSEs Are Interactive!

Not only is it much cheaper to advertise to more targeted traffic on verticals, it’s also more interactive.  As I mentioned earlier, verticals are industry-specific so information is usually focused on only one industry.  They’re typically run by a team of highly specialized professionals so these people are experts on the topics within their niches and are able to offer relevant information and content. 

Verticals also offer many enhanced services that the general engines don’t offer such as editorials, blogs, and banners to name but a few.  With banner ad programs you as the advertiser can request custom positioning for your banners because most verticals will go out of their way to please their customers.  Also, most verticals place direct links to their clients’ sites which gives advertisers an SEO edge because search engines can now associate the advertiser’s site with a highly ranked VSE.  Without direct links such as these, search engine spiders might never find some sites.

Because verticals are usually smaller and more versatile, they can accommodate client requests far more quickly and efficiently.  They are better suited to adapting quickly to changing market conditions and industry trends.  Additionally, VSEs cover issues related to specific topics or industries and can enable customers to blog on their sites.  This not only encourages industry participation but also contributes much needed keyword-rich content, a must for marketers who want their sites found by search spiders.  Some verticals even hire professional writers to add industry related content, a major SEO benefit. 

In conclusion, advertising with vertical search engines is a smart and effective way to give your ROI a boost.  Not only do they put your company in front of targeted B2B traffic, they also provide other interactive ways for your company to network and grow.  They may not be as mainstream as Google or Yahoo!, but they’re certainly on the right track.

3 Common Mistakes Marketers Make on PPC Engines

The plan in your head seems simple enough: bid on keywords on pay-per-click (PPC) engines then watch your business skyrocket.  Some marketers do achieve instant success.  However, many are losing money because they’ve got gaping holes in their PPC strategy.  Don’t overlook the basics!

Search engines such as Yahoo! and Google allow you to bid on keywords and drive visitors to your web site for a per-click fee.  The Yahoo! Sponsored Search program has a $30 non-refundable deposit and a $0.10 per click minimum bid (and a $20 per month minimum spend). The Google AdWords program has a $5 account activation fee and a $0.01 per click minimum bid.  For many PPC engines, the highest bid typically gets the highest position, and you’ll only be charged when someone clicks on your ad.

But just because it can take less than 15 minutes to set up a PPC campaign doesn’t mean you should!  Let’s look at three common mistakes PPC advertisers make:

1) Choosing the Wrong Keywords

The wrong keywords deliver too much traffic that doesn’t convert, or too few visitors to impact your bottom line.  The trick is to choose highly-targeted keywords that are targeted, yet popular enough that you’ll get decent traffic without blowing your entire budget in 24 hours.  If you’re trying to get visitors to take action on your site, it’s mission critical to track your leads or sales at the keyword level.  Without knowing which keywords did and did not perform, you won’t be able to maximize your advertising profits.

2. Writing Ad Copy that Attracts Non-Buyers

Generic-sounding copy is terrible, especially for pay-per-click.  Something like “we offer business solutions to help your company succeed” is so flippin’ vague that it’s going to attract people who have no use for your company whatsoever.  The result?  You’ll be paying for wasted clicks.  An even worse offense is to over-promote your offer which also attracts non-buyers; the word “free” has to be used carefully for this reason.  Make your ad descriptive and compelling so that potential customers know what you’re selling and are ready to buy before they even land on your site.

3. Using a Landing Page that Doesn’t Sell

Do not, I repeat, do not send PPC traffic to your home page!  Besides certain exceptions, it’s not the most relevant page for the users’ search query.  The landing page you send visitors to, and the way it’s designed and written, determines if people stay or abandon your site.  Design and test your landing pages for optimal conversions.

Successful PPC campaigns start with careful consideration of the basics.  New advertisers should take time to plan out their campaign while existing advertisers should optimize these basic ingredients.  Protect your profits!

Putting An End To Our Children’s Expanding Waistlines

Let’s face it: Kids these days are getting fatter.  Waistlines are expanding at an alarming rate.  Childhood obesity has now reached epidemic proportions, and not just among the world’s most affluent nations.  The International Obesity Task Force estimates that over 22 million of the world’s children under the age of 5 are currently overweight or obese.  Even in some parts of Africa fatness afflicts up to 4 times as many children as malnutrition does.  In the US approximately 60% of all adults are overweight, a scary statistic when we realize that our children are following in our footsteps.

But something is finally being done about this issue, and it’s about time!  The Council of Better Business Bureaus recently announced that eleven major food marketers have pledged to put an end to childhood obesity.  The announcement came during a forum called “Weighing In: A Check-Up on Marketing, Self-Regulation, and Childhood Obesity,” jointly hosted by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health and Human Services. 

The forum’s purpose was to see if food marketers were following guidelines which were suggested by the FTC in a 2005 report.  The report suggested that participants:

• Devote at least half their advertising directed to children on television, radio, print and Internet to promote healthier dietary choices or to messages that encourage good nutrition or healthy lifestyles.
• Limit products shown in interactive games to healthier dietary choices or incorporate healthy lifestyle messages into the games.
• Not advertise food or beverage products in elementary schools.
• Not engage in food and beverage product placement in editorial and entertainment content.
• Reduce the use of third-party licensed characters in advertising that does not meet the initiative’s product or messaging criteria.

The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative has approved pledges for Cadbury Adams, USA, LLC; Campbell Soup Co., The Coca-Cola Co., General Mills, Inc.; The Hershey Co., Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods Inc., Mars Inc.; McDonald’s USA, LLC, PepsiCo Inc. and Unilever United States.  These companies accounted for an estimated two-thirds of children’s food and beverage television advertising expenditures in 2004.  The changes being implemented are required to be consistent with current scientific and government health standards, an excellent step in the right direction.  Now if we could just get the remaining one-third of food marketers to get on board…

European Marketers Follow The Online Lead

According to a new Forrester report, Europeans will double their spending on online marketing over the next five years from about $10.3 billion in 2006 to over $22.1 billion in 2012.

Over 25,000 consumers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK were polled while interviews were conducted on twenty-four major European marketers.  According to the results, online marketing will account for about 18% of total media budgets in just five short years.  This includes email, search and display advertising.

According to the report “Firms will raise their online budgets primarily to better reach the growing audience that relies on the Web for a widening range of decisions.  After five years of dipping their toes into the online marketing waters, firms have come to realize that the Web is a valuable medium for client acquisition, retention and market expansion.”

This shift in spending should come as no surprise; the world audience and its attention has been moving online for some time now.  In fact, 36% of online Europeans say that they watch less television because they’re going online instead.  28% reported reading less of the newspapers for the same reason.

Consumers also cited lack of trust in advertisers as a reason for their shift towards online spending.  A whopping 67% said they didn’t believe that most advertisers were truthful in their attempts to market their products.

But 40% of online consumers said they trust sites utilizing price comparisons and 36% said they trust online product reviews originating from other users.

Forrester also interviewed twenty-four major European marketers in an attempt to gain some insight into their current online marketing strategies and their plans for the future.  They found that “All of the interviewees use banner ads, with seventeen using buttons and the same percentage using online sponsorships.  More than half of them also use rich media ads.  Interviewees cite a variety of drivers for online spend, with ten wanting to grow their business and nine saying that they are simply following their consumers.”

Most respondents said that they use paid search and seventeen said that they pay agency fees.  None of the respondents indicated that they’d be spending less on search in the next five years and about 75% of them expect to be spending more.  This is because they’ve come to realize that this type of spending yields good return on investment (ROI) and that they need to keep up with the general trend if they wish not to be left behind.  Additionally, this illustrates a widespread desire to do more targeted marketing, and where better to achieve this than over the ever-expanding Internet?

SEM vs. SEO: The Landing Page Difference

Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) are not created equal, for a lot of reasons.  At a very basic level, search engine marketing involves click costs while search engine optimization works through free “organic” traffic.  Those two facts are the basis of a popular myth: that it’s a lot easier to get good return on investment (ROI) through SEO than it is to get the same ROI through SEM.

There are several reasons why that myth simply isn’t true, but today we’ll deal with just one: the landing page difference.

In SEM, you decide the landing page your visitors see whereas in SEO, a search engine spider decides on what landing page your visitors will see.  That’s a huge difference in control, and that difference makes all the difference in the world.

Searchers, after all, are impatient people with itchy back-button fingers; if they come to a site and don’t find what they’re looking for right away, they’ll return to the search engine results page and click on your competitors’ links in a matter of seconds!  That’s a scary thought for people who rely solely on SEO campaigns.  We live in a fast-paced world of instant gratification.  The less work one has to do, the better. 

So if your landing page is optimized for the keywords the searchers choose, and the ad copy the searchers see, then you’re able to tell a new visitor, right away, that s/he’s come to the right place.  And no matter how great your site is, that’s a message that visitors need to hear.  People don’t just want to see a good landing page: They want to see a relevant landing page.  There’s nothing more annoying than doing a search and getting results that have nothing to do with what you’re looking for.  It kind of makes you wonder.   

But only a good SEM firm can optimize your landing page.  A search spider won’t do it.

In both SEO and SEM, you only hit ROI if your searchers convert.  An SEM firm might require a higher initial investment than an SEO firm does (because SEM requires the management cost plus the PPC cost, while SEO only costs the price of management alone)—but you’re also likely to get better conversions through SEM.  That’s because you’re likely to get better landing pages through SEM, and it’s only conversions that will get you ROI.

Am I saying that getting the best SEO possible isn’t worthwhile?  Absolutely not.  (In fact, if you’d like some good advice on how to choose a good SEO provider, you may wish to click here.)  Top-ranking organic results are like front-page newspaper stories: you may not be able to control everything your market sees, but it can still make your brand look great.  Plus, the more real estate you take up in the search engine results page, the better: if searchers don’t click on your search ad, they can still get to your site through the organic link.

So good SEO is definitely vital to strong internet marketing.  But saying that SEO will get better ROI than SEM—simply because organic traffic is free—ignores the most important element of SEM: control, and it’s control that makes all the difference between merely getting traffic, or getting traffic that converts.  And that makes a huge difference when it comes to ROI.