Did you know that Google processes 40k search quires every second. This makes it by far the most popular website. In a single day, Google processes 3.5 billion search queries. This is equal to 1.2 trillion searches per year. There is no wonder why a lot of e-commerce companies are looking to leverage Google AdWords for e-commerce marketing. Imagine the endless business possibilities that are open to your e-commerce store due to Google AdWords. You might think that getting a million people to your site is very hard. However, Google AdWords has made it very simple.
How to use Google AdWords
A short tutorial will come handy for using Google AdWords.
Step1 in using Google AdWords
The first step is to create a Google AdWords account. It is quite easy to create a Google AdWords account. You will need to go to the AdWords get started page and fill in the needed information. Its much like opening a google account.
Step2 google AdWords setup
You will be taken to the most important Google AdWords page to setup a google campaign. You will have to pay special detail on this step. The first part of this step is to define your daily budget. You can set your daily budget to $5 per day. If the average cost per click is $0.80 then you are likely going to receive 5 visitors per day. In a single month, you will receive around 150 visitors. The best-recommended budget is at least $10 per day.
Step 3 in Google AdWords setup
This is the step where you get to select your targeted audience. This is the part where you get to select your targeted keywords. You can also choose to focus on search ads alone. Select 15 to 20 keywords related to the goods you would be selling on your e-commerce store.
Marketing experts are central to the success of e-commerce businesses. Marketing experts for e-commerce businesses are usually digital marketers. It is important for e-commerce businesses to choose the right marketing expert for their business. The business of marketing your e-commerce store is very tricky. The best you could do as an e-commerce store owner is to delegate the marketing duties to someone else. You can even delegate this duty to another digital marketing agency.
Where to find marketing experts
Some people who claim to be marketing experts on the internet simply use bots to drive traffic to your site. This is specifically common on websites such as Fiverr. A Fiverr seller might charge you $5 to drive ten thousand real visitors to your e-commerce website. You soon realize that the ten thousand visitors do not make a single purchase. This shows you that the traffic is made out of bots and you have been scammed out of your hard-earned money. This lesson teaches you that you should be careful about cheap services. Sometimes cheap services are not the best. The best way to find marketing experts is to post your job on sites such as LinkedIn, Upwork, craigslist, and indeed. On these sites, you have the chance to screen the level of expertise that you want.
Finding affordable marketing experts
Finding affordable marketing experts for your e-commerce business has been made easy through sites such as Upwork. The best way to find affordable marketing experts is to hire people who don’t live in first world countries. The cost of labor in first world countries is higher than the cost of labor in the rest of the world. This is why American companies manufacture their goods in China and Vietnam. It will be good for you to choose a marketing expert from countries such as the Philippines.
Selling property online is the new form of e-commerce. The best part about selling real estate online is that the customer can now do a lot of research about the neighborhood. A real estate research that used to take a lot of resources and time can now be done in only 20 minutes. We have internet technology to thank for this development. Earlier real estate portals only offered real estate listings for entities to call and buy the properties. Nowadays these transactions can be simply performed online with the touch of a button. However, this form of e-commerce has its own disadvantages.
The advantages of buying real estate online
There are certain advantages that come with buying real estate online. In the modern era, real estate platforms now have analytics tools that help real estate investor make the right investment decisions. Property giants like housing.com have agents who visit real estate in order to verify the property. The advantages of buying real estate online are the little capital needed for researching. Now a person living in China can invest in American real estate simply by the click of a button. The online tools must be supplemented with online and physical research.
The disadvantages of buying real estate online
There are several disadvantages of buying real estate online. The first and obvious one being the likelihood that you would be scammed. This is investors’ deepest fear. Due to the fact that you are buying an expensive item, you will need to practice caution.
Online real estate Companies
Some of the most popular online real estate include Redfin, Zillow, and Yopa.co.uk. These companies have their advantages and disadvantages. Yopa is a United Kingdom full web-based property company that is said to be disrupting the real estate market.
Affiliate marketing has been a major driver of e-commerce. A lot of e-commerce companies and businesses need affiliate marketers in-order to increase their sales. The most common form of affiliate marketing involves subscription-based e-commerce. For example web hosting businesses have Affiliate marketing programs. These programs help bring in more customers. The web hosting business has a lot of competition. Even the keyword “web hosting” is a pricey keyword. The reason why it is so pricey is the fact that the keyword is in high demand from thousands of hosting companies. They are also affiliate marketing platforms. The biggest affiliate marketing platform is Amazon associate.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an arrangement whereby an online retailer pays a commission for sales or traffic. Affiliate marketing depends a lot on the marketer generating traffic to the online retailer’s website or platform. One of the most known affiliate marketing platforms is Clickbank. Clickbank is the most popular non tangible affiliate platform. This is where affiliate marketers find subscription based stuff to market. Usually, a lot of affiliate marketers either have lots of organic traffic from their websites or have a large social media following. This makes it easier for affiliate marketers to sell the online retailer’s products.
Affiliate marketing tactics
There are certain affiliate marketing tactics that tend to work better than others. The first thing you should always consider when starting an affiliate marketing business is the cost of doing business itself. You should always ensure that at the end of the day you have made a profit. This means that if it costs you money to market an online product it should always be worth the money. The best advice is to market products that cost more than $300 especially if you are using paid advertising.
Many online marketing experts employ different tactics to promote their online businesses. These include pay-per-click, traditional search engine optimization, retargeting, online display advertising, among others. However, one method that you should not overlook is having a flexible return policy. In this post, we will learn why this marketing move can help your business in the long run.
Consider this— a 2017 study participated in by online shoppers in the US showed that 79% of the participants say that free shipping on returns is one of the more important factors in choosing an online store. The same study showed that 3 out of 4 online shoppers shipped their purchased items back to the stores from which they bought it. Moreover, 44% of the surveyed online shoppers say they buy a new product from an online retailer that processed a return.
Return Policy Leads to More Sales
Retooling your online store’s return policy will not only make you more customer friendly; your business will also have more sales buoyed by satisfied customers and repeat buyers. You should understand how the after-buying experience can impact your sales.
Here’s one proof: a UPS study together with ComScore found that 67 percent of customers shopped more if the online seller offers a flexible return policy. Moreover, 2 out of 3 customers say they would look first for the return policy of an online retailer before buying.
Return Policy Reduces Cart Abandonment
The average cart abandonment rate for online retail is pegged at 76 percent, which is high considering that only 24% of online customers are converting.
But when you make it easy for customers to return items, your business will stand a better chance of converting more shoppers. Moreover, these shoppers will likely become more loyal because of the positive after-buying experience.
To sum things up, a flexible and hassle-free return policy can give a huge lift to your online business.
Alibaba is one of the biggest e-commerce firms in the world. It is two times more profitable than Amazon, serving more people than those who live in North America. It is believed to generate nearly $550 billion in annual sales, which is more than the online sales in the US. With its size, it is not surprising that many American firms want to sell their products on Alibaba.
Alibaba accused of sabotage
However, a recent story by the Associated Press raises questions on the integrity of the Chinese e-commerce giant. Quoting industry sources, the AP mentions the story of a top US clothing brand which agreed to sell its products on Alibaba’s Tmall platform.
However, the firm didn’t sign an exclusive contract with Alibaba. Worse, it also took part in a big promotion with Alibaba’s fierce rival, JD.com.
In return, Alibaba was said to have ‘punished’ the US firm by cutting traffic to their storefront. Two executives from the US firm also accused Alibaba of removing banners from prominent areas in Tmall sales showrooms. Moreover, its products were prevented from appearing in top search results.
As a result, the well-known US brand had its Tmall sales dropping by 20 percent for the year.
Other US firms have accused Alibaba of doing the same to them. According to AP, five big consumer brands were also affected by low sales after refusing to enter exclusive contracts with Alibaba. Three of those are American firms which have billions in yearly sales and were looking to grow further by expanding their online business to China.
Alibaba denies accusations
Reached by the AP for comment, Alibaba denied the charges of unfair play. It did, however, said that exclusive deals are a typical industry practice.
The accusations may affect Alibaba’s attempt to expand its business outside of China and Asia. Founder Jack Ma has said he dreams
that his company will serve 2 billion people by 2036.
Digital marketing continues to become a more crucial component of any business, whether it is online-based or not. Are you starting a digital marketing campaign for your business or a client? You might want to keep in mind the following online marketing mistakes that even the pros tend to commit:
Digital marketing mistake #1: Not measuring ROI
This is one of the common digital marketing blunders that even the experts make—failing to measure return on investment. Firms spend money funding social media campaigns without even bothering to learn how to compute ROI. This is particularly critical for smaller firms which don’t have enough budget unlike their bigger counterparts. Online marketing advisors of smaller firms should aim to break even on their digital marketing costs after a year.
Digital marketing mistake #2: Neglecting online content quality
Many business leaders and their social media advisers think that the success of an online marketing campaign can be measured by the number of posts on Facebook or Twitter. This leads to the decay of content online. Firms in complex or sophisticated industries like banks should be careful as sloppy and poorly-conceived content can be damaging to their reputation.
Digital marketing mistake #3: Overlooking reputation
Firms should be concerned about their reputation online. A bad review or Facebook post about them can damage the positive image that they’ve painstakingly built through the years.
Digital marketing mistake #4: Inability to capture interested customers
Everything comes to waste when the website fails to capture important details from interested customers or investors. It is a must to have a form on the website where potential customers or investors can leave their contact details for you. It is also recommended to occasionally send a newsletter.
Digital marketing mistake #5: Relying on off-line activities
It’s the age of the Internet and everyone is online. The conduct of off-line activities like workshops and seminars are time consuming, expensive and difficult to scale.
Online marketers know how important it is to motivate their website guests to make or complete a purchase. One way to do so is to send personalized and highly targeted message through an email marketing funnel. The following are some of the most commonly used conversion email marketing funnels today:
Email marketing funnel 1: Abandoned cart
When a guest doesn’t complete a purchase after starting the checkout process, it is critical for online merchants not to let him or her get away. Sending a series of specialized or personalized messages can convince the customer to complete the purchase. It can be a simple message like “Did you overlook your purchase?” Another message can come in the form of a free shipping or discount offer.
Email marketing funnel 2: Trial upgrade
In the event that a customer has availed of a free trial of a product but has not purchased the paid version, online merchants can remind the consumer of the benefits of upgrading. Another way to convince the customer is to offer assistance, training, or discount.
Email marketing funnel 3: Free demonstration
This is commonly offered for more complex products such as ecommerce platforms. It’s a high-risk proposition for most people because they have to give their contact details but also speak with a salesperson. One way to address this is to send several messages explaining the details of the demo such as time and the things to be discussed.
Email marketing funnel 4: Special promotions
Many consumers want to buy but often need one more reason to do so. Offering special offers and promotions could be that extra motivation for them to complete a purchase. Online entrepreneurs would be wise enough to send a message hyping a discount or promo regarding the products they want to sell.
Email marketing funnel 5: Loyalty programs
With loyalty programs, customers who frequently buy from an online store are amply rewarded. Online merchants can send messages about the loyalty programs they’ve created and how these work.
E-commerce platform BigCommerce has been slowly eating into the customer base of bigger competitors like Shopify and Demandware. With a recent round of big investment for Big Commerce, will the Texas-based firm be able to catch up on its rivals?
BigCommerce, which counts Sony and Toyota as among its high-profile clients, recently announced raising $64 million in fresh funding to grow its business. The investment was made possible by Goldman Sachs, General Catalyst, Tenaya Capital, and GGV Capital. To date, BigCommerce has raised more than $200 million since its founding in 2009.
BigCommerce says it has been able to assist small merchants in cutting down costs by up to 80 percent. Its template allows users to launch online stores with shipping and payments tracking. Online merchants using BigCommerce may also cross-sell easily on other online platforms like Facebook, eBay and Amazon.
Rationale of investment for BigCommerce
Investors say that the success of the company as well as its growth potential made them help BigCommerce. One investor, GGV Capital managing partner Jeff Richards that e-commerce is a big business which is doing very well.
BigCommerce has been faring well in Australia and the United States . The investment for BigCommerce means the firm will be able to expand further abroad, particularly in Europe.
It also created an integration with popular social networking app Instagram so that consumers can easily buy directly via Instagram. It has also partnered with PayPal and Google.
Will investment for BigCommerce help topple rivals?
The big question now is whether the big investment for BigCommerce give it the push to topple Shopify and another rival, Demandware.
BigCommerce CEO Brent Bellm is non-committal. Instead, he says that the sweet spot for the firm is somewhere between small businesses, which Shopify caters to, and large enterprises, which is the market of Demandware. He adds that the company is nearing $100 million in yearly revenues.
The best digital marketing stats we’ve seen this week Nearly 90% of consumers willing to give up personal data
An Episerver survey was conducted to have an insight into what people think of giving their personal data. The survey showed that among more than 4000 population, 87% of people are ready to give their data so that they would get a better online experience. It is noteworthy that a gap still exists between the expectations of customers and capabilities of brands. Over a third of respondents were of the opinion that brands do not care about personalizing their online shopping experience; they provide with incomplete or inaccurate information. This survey also found that customers are more open to new technologies.
A disparity of digital marketing on YouTube looms large
There is inequality in YouTube according to a new study for Bloomberg News. It revealed that it is not an easy task to make a living on YouTube; hence most of the creators will fail to do so. Additionally, an analysis was conducted by Mathias Bartl which showed that only 1% of creators generate between 2.2m and 42.2m views a month in 2016.
However, it is also said that the top 3% consumers which generate 1.4m views a month can also earn an income of around 16, 8000 dollars to support themselves. With social media and the role of ‘influencers’ becoming necessary career options for youngsters, the study throws an exciting light on the reality of YouTube.
Time spent with ad-supported media declines in the US
The time spent with ad-supported media have been declined, while on the other hand, time spent with US consumer media has been risen in 2017, as has been shown by PQ Media’s Global Consumer Media Usage Forecast. Similarly, it has been revealed that the exposure and usage of digital media of all consumer time spent with media is 37.4% and that mobile audio is becoming the rapidly growing digital media. It also revealed that there is a 30% increase in the time spent with mobile audio. Despite such a rise, the time spent with ad-supported media fell, and it is estimated that it will decline even further by 2021.
Social is the most popular method of paid advertising for digital marketing in the UK travel sector
The most popular method of paid advertising has become social, unlike the previous search as revealed by the latest benchmark report from Marlin. It also found that UK travel advertisers expect expenditure 42% of their paid social budget on Facebook in 2018. Moreover, the performance of social media is a great challenge according to 53% of UK respondents. Lastly, Amazon’s digital adoptions are not a threat to travel advertisers, since they consider it as a channel that won’t impact their business in 2018.
Open Banking expected to contribute over £1 billion annually to UK economy
Nearly 17, 000 new jobs are anticipated for the economy in the UK because a new study has suggested that Open Banking could unlock over 1 billion on an annual basis. The fintech companies are able to access the data necessary to provide new services, hence an increased competition.
Furthermore, it is also been revealed from a research conducted by Accenture that 69% of people are not ready to give their banking data to third parties, which on the other hand suggests that it all depends on consumer trust. Therefore, to win the trust of consumers values such as transparency become more vital.
Marketers are failing to recognize the impact of dark social
It is suggested by the report of Econsultancy’s Marketing in the Dark that considers dark social as one of the top three challenges for 2018, the majority of them fail to take it seriously. Additionally, 39% of the top companies have agreed that they can attribute value to dark social, which means that there is a risk of lagging behind if marketers do not recognize the impact of dark social.
