7 Conversion-Sabotaging Words to Avoid at All Costs

Words matter. People may not read everything, but they do scan. And they process information subconsciously at lightning speeds to determine if they’ll click or bounce within a few fractions of a second.

So while some words, like “Submit” on your button, may seem innocent enough... they could be costing you dearly, turning away visitors in droves.

Here’s why, along with a few other conversion-sabotaging words you need to replace in your emails, ads, and landing pages ASAP.

Conversion Killer #1: “Submit”

“Submit” is a derivation of submission. And therein lies the problem.

We ain’t talkin’ kinky 50 Shades of Grey stuff, but a negative connotation with yielding to someone or something superior. People, as a general rule, don’t like yielding. (Remember that whole Revolution bit?)

Especially when even the slightest suspicion of required payment might be involved.

This was proven definitively years and years ago by Dan Zarella and HubSpot. They took a look at the conversion rates of over 40,000 customer landing pages and quickly noticed a huge discrepancy...

When CTA buttons included the word “submit,” conversion rates tended to drop immediately by a few percentage points.

To further validate, they queued up another test that would rotate CTA text randomly between a few different options. Here’s what they found:

Unsurprisingly, at this point, the word “submit” performed worse than a few other common CTA text options like “click here” or “go.”

The hypothesized reasoning is that these other variations feel much less committal and imply a lower investment of time and effort.

The negative connotation is one problem. But another is the vague, generic nature of the word.

In general, the best CTA’s are as specific and actionable as possible. That means you start with a verb, or action oriented word, that describes what a person’s going to get (e.g. “Click Here to Get My Report”).

Here’s why generic quickly devolves into meaningless.

Conversion Killer #2: “Synergy”

What’s the fastest way to learn terrible copywriting?

Get an MBA.

Because in just a few short weeks, you’ll find yourself spewing out “synergy,” “competencies,” and a host of other clichéd, meaningless words that have old professors nodding their heads in  approval. (This, coming from someone who has their MBA.)

As evidence, go visit almost any B2B website outside of marketing and advertising.

Your eyes will glaze over, your face will contort, and a sudden bout of narcolepsy might hit at any moment.

Many times, clients and bosses don’t notice anything wrong at first either. They’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid too long, like your crazy cat-lady aunt who doesn’t notice that her house reeks of cat nip, hair balls, and litter boxes.

Thankfully, the kind people from Unbounce came out with the amazing Dejargonator to quickly and humorously diagnose these issues for the people we answer to.

The problem with “best in class” and all other common business jargon (besides the fact that it also appears on every competitor’s website) is that customers can smell the BS from a mile away.

The best explanation comes from Peep at ConversionXL who points to cognitive fluency and “the heuristic that Easy = True”.

Sounds stupid, right? But Peep points to research that shows easily pronounceable company names perform better in stock markets (hardly the barometer of rational decision making), and simple fonts are more believable.

In other words, as the Boston Globe points out, “it turns out that people prefer things that are easy to think about to those that are hard.”

But wait, there’s more!

The first problem is that the average person’s reading comprehension ain’t that good. So anything above a 7th or 8th grade reading level will be too difficult and complex (which is like, really low dude).

The second, is that people aren’t focusing or reading online; they’re scanning and multitasking and browsing and tweeting while also (kinda) looking at your page.

The solution in most cases? Cut the BS. Rewrite anything with the faintest resemblance to what you learned in skool school.

Conversion Killer #3: “Spam”

No, not the canned mystery meat kind. The graymail kind that your customers are already overwhelmed with.

They’re being bombarded with hundreds of emails each day. Trillions are being sent by marketers each year.

So you’d think, logically speaking, that assuring visitors you won’t spam them would help conversions. Right?

Unfortunately that’s not the case. “Spam” is a huge stop word – or no no – that causes people to become apprehensive and hesitate.

A test carried out by Michael Aargaard showed the surprising ramifications. He added the seemingly harmless line of “100% privacy – We will never spam you” in between the form fields and submission button.

Typically, these extra credibility indicators surrounding a CTA can help to give conversions a nice little boost. But not in this case.

Huh. Strange. You’d think a statement assuring people of their privacy would help. But this time it backfired by over 18%.

So Michael switched it up.

He wanted to reinforce the same message, but alter the wording to change from a negative connotation (i.e. bringing up something like “spam” that people weren’t really considering before) to a positive one.

The winning variation provided a 19.47% lift, landing on: “We guarantee 100% privacy. Your information will not be shared.”

Michael has even repeated this process several times, finding similarly poor results when placing the possibility of “spam” in people’s minds.

The lesson?

Avoid words with a negative connotation (as we saw with “submit”) in general, and use additional messaging to reinforce the positive aspects of what someone is about to get.

Conversion Killer #4: “We”

“We” opens a door. It’s like the gateway drug of bad copywriting.

One small hit, and you’re quickly off to dabbling with bigger, badder things.

While it might seem harmless at the time, “we” puts you on a path to jonesing for a fix of “synergy” and “best in class” in no time.

But keep in mind, that as a general rule, people don’t care about you. Instead, they want a “better version of themselves.”

This is especially so for all those visiting your site at the top of the funnel, who haven’t realized a need for your product or service yet. They’re Googling solutions for drilling a hole in their wall so they can hang a picture… they’re not looking for a drill (just yet).

That means the focus of messaging should be centered around said problem and solution, not a tool, product or service.

Joanna Wiebe says it goes back to trust. Or lack thereof.

She points to a quote from Rohit Bhargava on Likeonomics: “The first and most basic reason for distrust is because there are so many companies and people who choose to lie to us either by making misleading claims or simply by hiding the truth.”

Instead of “we”, Joanna recommends:

1. Begin with “you”… or
2. Begin with no pronoun at all (like a question or a command / call to action)

Conversion Killer #5: “Your”

The copy on most websites is written in the second person. And that’s a good thing!

Copywriters are taught to use “you” instead of “they” when explaining the benefits derived from the latest product or service.

Take the completely hypothetical example of writing a blog post that discusses which words hurt conversions. To drive your points home for maximum resonance, you would write tips and takeaways to a specific audience by speaking to “you” as much as possible.

But as always, there are exceptions.

When focusing on a CTA or specific conversion event, the “possessive determiner” should switch back to first person.

Another test from Michael Aagaard proves the point. Michael initially thought that “your” in the CTA button copy would work best. It’s commonplace all over the interwebs after all.

But here’s what he found.

Almost a 25% difference, just by switching a single word.

He then repeated this process on an Unbounce landing page, switching “your” free trial with “my” free trial and saw similarly significant results.

Most landing pages and blog posts should write directly to a single person, using “you” and “your” liberally.

However…

When writing CTA copy, switch to “my” to give people ownership of the benefit they’re about to receive.

Conversion Killer #6: “Free”

You’d think, on the surface, that “free” increases conversions. And it does in most cases.

The last example a few seconds ago used a “free trial” to generate more interest (and clicks).

But as always, there’s exceptions.

The first (albeit tiny) issue is that the word “free” can trip up spam filters in email messaging.

The second, bigger problem though is a curious case of over optimization.

For example, less form fields will typically mean a higher conversion rate. Just by whittling down your landing page form fields from the oppressively long 11 to only four you can boost conversions by 120%.

The problem is that more conversions isn’t always better.

A Totango study showed that 70% of the people who sign up for free trials are useless, with only around ~20% of those actively evaluating the product.

Software company Moz found this out years ago, where the most profitable customers didn’t convert on the first or second visit, but only after 8+ visits. “Many, many visits are often correlated with high purchase prices,” Rand Fishkin reported.

So while the word “free” can (and will) increase initial conversions, you should be optimizing for sales and revenue – not vanity metrics like leads or impressive (but hollow) conversion rates.

Robert from Neuromarketing says: “if you are trying to encourage sampling of a product that appeals to a specific audience…a very modest charge will throttle demand but will eliminate most samplers who have no use for the product.”

Conversion Killer #7. “Save Time & Money”

So far we’ve seen that vague, meaningless, overly generic phrases are bad for conversions.

The culmination of them all – the cherry on top and the pièce de résistance – is “save time and money.”

This simple, albeit ever-present phrase is a (non)favorite of Joanna Wiebe’s, who lovingly refers to it as “lazy ass messaging.”

Yes, this seemingly harmless phrase raises vitriol in seemingly one of the nicest people around the interwebs. Why?

Because it takes a piece of everything bad from the previous six words and rolls them up into one terrifyingly conversion-repellent Frankenstein.

In other words, it breaks one of the very first rules of copywriting that says you should write to a particular audience. And Joanna shows in the last link that people either value one or the other, not both equally.

The easiest solution isn’t actually a copywriting trick at all, but a strategy one. Employ inbound funnel segmentation to try your hardest at getting only one audience to a dedicated page (by linking your content to a specific acquisition channel or segment).

But what if there’s no way around it? What if you HAVE to cater to multiple audiences – like on your homepage?

Then roll up your sleeves and dig a little deeper into who you’re speaking to, and what they value most.

Again, Joanna gets all the credit with her flashy Venn diagram skillz:

The key is to ferret out those few ingredients that make your offering awesome & unique, which both audiences value.

You want the stuff that overlaps, which will help you create a specific value proposition that reinforces your primary aim (of driving conversions), while avoiding the same generic crap showing up on each of your competitor’s websites.

In Conclusion…

Not every successful landing page is a long-form squeeze page with thousands upon thousands of words. Many, if not most, are just a few simple lines with a killer headline and strong CTA.

In these cases, making each and every word work its hardest is imperative. You literally and figuratively can’t afford words and phrases that don’t pull their weight.

Online, that includes “stop words” and words which turn the focus away from your audience and selfishly onto yourself.

Thankfully, many people have already done the research and testing to show us the light. We just need to be aware of it and then follow it.

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6 Ways to Optimize Images for Commercial Intent Searches

The other day, I was searching for an image of a still from David Cronenberg’s 1981 science-fiction horror classic, Scanners (don’t ask).

Fortunately, Google served up the image I needed – and if you’ve seen the movie, you can probably guess what it was – but it also provided me with a range of sponsored image results, too:

 

Obviously, I wasn’t looking for an image of that type of scanner, but it did get me thinking about images and commercial intent searches.

In today’s post, we’ll take a look at optimizing images for commercial searches and how to approach images with commercial intent in mind. For the sake of ease and consistency, we’ll be focusing primarily on Google Images.

First, let’s take a look at how sponsored image results actually work.

Shopping Results in Google Images

As you can see in the image above, a row of Shopping listings are displayed above the organic image results for that query. These ads can be displayed alongside image results across the entirety of the Search network, and data for these ads is pulled directly from advertisers’ Shopping feeds. It’s also worth noting that Product Listing Ads (PLAs) can displayed alongside image results on mobile.

This represents a significant opportunity for advertisers and brands seeking to leverage trends in search. Google does not publicly disclose the percentage of its search traffic by type – i.e. how many users searched for web results vs. image results – but Google Trends can reveal data that may be relevant to your business, such as how search results for a certain query are reflected in web, image, news, or product search results.

In the figure below, for example, you can see the gradual increase in interest in the search query “Halloween costumes” in image searches during the 90-day period between the end of July and October 31:

 

What we do know for certain is that the volume of searches being conducted from mobile devices is increasing, and that many people are using their devices to help them make purchasing decisions – including when shopping in an actual store.  

 

Image via Think with Google

It’s also worth noting that many sites simply do not bother to optimize their images at all. This means poor metadata (more on this shortly), impractically large image files, and other assorted horrors.

You’re already way ahead of the curve simply by thinking about image optimization, so let’s dive into the nitty gritty of optimizing images for search.

Images and User Intent

The single biggest obstacle when it comes to image optimization for search is understanding and leveraging user intent.

Take my Scanners example from earlier. Firstly, it’s entirely possible that you might see completely different results for the exact same query. This is because Google personalizes search results depending on a range of factors, such as whether you’re signed into a Google account at the time of a search (which I was when I performed the search for “scanners”), your browsing history, your purchasing history, as well as “typical” ranking signals.

 

The search engine results page I saw for the search term “scanners”

Secondly, “scanners” is a very ambiguous search term. It’s obviously not a navigational query, but it could be either informational or commercial; I could be a researcher or student looking for more information about the history of scanning technology, or a movie geek looking for info about the movie Scanners, or an amateur radio enthusiast looking for police scanner frequencies – but I could also be looking for a new table-top scanner for my home office.

It’s very challenging to determine the intent of a search like this (although it’s getting much better), but because there is a decent chance that the search is transactional in nature, Google displays sponsored image results.

High-Commercial Intent Queries

In the example Google used to illustrate how Shopping ads would be displayed alongside organic image results, it used a high-commercial intent keyword, “crystal necklaces”:

 

This is an excellent example of when sponsored images make sense. Someone searching for this keyword probably isn’t looking for a history of crystal necklaces or how they’re made, and it’s obviously not a navigational query.

However, this doesn’t mean a search like this is a slam-dunk, either. Pricing for luxury items such as crystal necklaces could impact the likelihood of that search resulting in a conversion, as could a wide variety of other factors – but it does signify commercial intent, even if it’s just window shopping.

Ambiguous or Low-Commercial Intent Queries

We’ve seen that sponsored image results can be highly effective for certain kinds of businesses and high-commercial intent queries. But what about a vague, ambiguous query such as “scanners”? Well, as we saw, Google served me a mix of results based on the potential intent of the search. Fortunately, this was exactly what I wanted – but I didn’t click on any of the ads. This raises the issue of impression volume for some advertisers.

Ambiguous or low-commercial intent queries also raise important questions about the overall user experience. I wasn’t too bothered by the Shopping ads for table-top scanners during my original search, but Google wants to maximize relevance as part of the wider user experience to ensure that ads have a higher chance of being clicked, resulting in more revenue for Google. This is an area in which Google’s increasingly sophisticated search technologies such as RankBrain could become even more important as the Web continues to evolve.

Image Search and Commercial Intent

According to Google, people who used their mobile device to shop used image search as a determining factor in their buying decision at least once per week. This represents a great opportunity for retailers and product-driven businesses to get their products in front of highly motivated searchers, which is exactly what advertisers and Google want.

Google also says that the two most commonly asked image-related questions are “What’s the price of this?” and “Where can I buy it?” This speaks to the strong commercial intent of what Google clearly considers a sizable market.

 

Image via Google

This is especially relevant to small businesses with a local focus, as searches for local businesses are often among the strongest in terms of commercial intent, as we see in the figure above.

How to Optimize Images for Commercial Intent Searches

So how can you optimize your images, not only for SEO but commercial intent? Let’s take a look.

1. Use High-Quality Images – and Lots of Them

How many times have you bought something without even looking at a picture of it?

I’m guessing not many.

Most consumers want to see images of whatever they plan to purchase. Online shopping might be more convenient than in-person transactions, but the inability to “kick the tires” of a product before buying it is a major drawback. That’s why the images you use should be the highest quality possible for your budget. You can get remarkable results out of an iPhone, but professional product photography will help your products stand out.

 

It’s definitely possible to achieve very high-quality product imagery with
an iPhone. Image via Cult of Mac

It’s also important to give shoppers the information they want – which, in the case of visual searches, is likely to be multiple images of the product they’re interested in. The longer a prospective customer can spend looking at gorgeous, high-quality images of what you’re selling, the more likely they are to cross the line and buy it.

2. Be Specific and Consistent in Your Naming Conventions

If you’ve ever downloaded an image from the web, you’ve probably seen some outrageous file names. Obscure strings, random capitalization, and other assorted horrors. Doing this basically tells Google that you don’t want your images to be found.

 

That’s more like a serial number than a file name. Don’t do this.

Even with Google’s increasingly sophisticated search technologies that are making even vague image searches more accurate, a logical, consistent naming convention will help improve your visibility and chances of the relevant images being shown to the right people at the right time.

Images should be named clearly and concisely. This is especially important for product photography or any other imagery unique to a specific product. Choose a naming convention and stick to it. At WordStream, we typically name our images files as an-example-image.png (always using lowercase type), and we adhere to this naming convention for all our images, not only those on the blog or PPC U.

3. Optimize Image File Sizes

We all forget to resize images from time to time, but if all your images are enormous, your efforts will suffer. Images should be as optimized as possible to ensure the fastest possible load times. The longer an image takes to load, the more likely you are to lose visitors, resulting in higher bounce rates.

 

Image via Think with Google

Yes, it takes longer to manually resize images rather than letting your CMS handle it, but everything you can do to make your site more efficient will help.

4. Make Proper Use of Alt Text

Although Google’s RankBrain and other neural network (computer networks that “learn” and adapt their behavior over time) technology is becoming increasingly accurate in determining the content of an image, proper use of alt text remains one of the most effective ways to “tell” Google and other search engines what’s going on in your images.

Alt text of some form is essential for two reasons. Firstly, it makes your images significantly easier for search engines to index. Secondly, alt text is the only means by which users with visual impairments who use screen readers to browse websites to determine what an image actually is. This is crucial from an accessibility standpoint, but sadly, it’s often overlooked or prioritized for SEO purposes.

5. Place Images Contextually and Logically

Some images, such as Larry’s beloved memes, don’t lend themselves particularly well to SEO or commercial intent optimization. This is completely fine, as they’re not meant to be taken seriously. However, for “serious” or instructional images, placement is important.

When placing images in your content, ensure that the images you include are highly relevant to the points you’re making in your copy, and that they’re placed at logical points that support your content.

6. Use Captions

Most sites don’t caption their images. This can be because the image is self-explanatory enough that a caption isn’t justified, or because captions aren’t used as part of your site’s style guide or editorial guidelines. However, captioning images isn’t just fun, it’s also a great optimization tool that far too many site owners and webmasters overlook. In fact, image captions can have a significant impact on your conversion rates.

 

Caption contest time!

According to KISSmetrics, caption text is 300% more likely on average to be read than body copy. If you’re not even bothering to use captions, you’re missing out on crucial opportunities to engage your audience. Admittedly, WordStream doesn’t caption every single image for the reasons outlined above, but captions do represent a significantly underrated opportunity to make your content more easily discovered and provide users with the exact results they’re looking for.

A Short Note on Title Tags

In the past, SEOs have placed great emphasis on the importance of title tags in image metadata (not to be confused with the Title field in some content management systems such as WordPress, which refers to the title of the image, not the title tag within it).

Although it certainly doesn’t hurt to include title tags in your images, the general consensus seems to be moving away from it being essential. If you want to include title tags along with your alt text, go for it – but it’s not a carved-in-stone requirement.

Focus on User Intent

For years, Google has been telling us that the best way to increase visibility – of virtually anything – is to give users what they want by focusing on relevance. This most definitely applies to images and image search.

Doing everything you can to improve the relevance of your images can help increase your visibility and take advantage of this interesting trend in search. As image-based search becomes increasingly sophisticated, optimizing for visual relevance could be even more important than it is already. 

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3 Local Marketing Tips to Lock Up the Local SERP

For small, regionally focused businesses to run effective PPC accounts, a local search marketing strategy is key. While it might seem counterintuitive to limit reach with geographic parameters and keyword modifiers, in truth you’re mitigating the power of national competitors with comparatively limitless resources. Don’t allow size to act as an impediment to advertising success: turn it into your biggest advantage.

Now, don’t get me wrong: the local SERP – that is, the search results pages shown for queries modified with specific locations – can be insanely competitive. But a lot of the time, this competition comes from those same national competitors who are blindly spending on broad, unfocused keywords and using bland ads. They’re leaning on brand recognition, not value proposition: an exploitable tactical error.

For example:

You’re a sartorial artisan forging custom sportcoats in Cambridge and you decide that AdWords would be the perfect way to earn new business. Maybe you check out a blog post or two before diving in.

You notice that when you bid on terms like “custom menswear” and “tailored jacket,” your ads are consistently buried beneath those of Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A Bank. You also notice these juggernauts seem to be using the exact same ad copy for both terms, and on mobile, too.

You’re quite astute, so you begin appending “Cambridge” “Boston” “Newbury Street” and the like to the tailoring terms you’d been bidding on. You deploy those same keywords in your compelling, locally-focused ad copy. And you use call-only ads to schedule custom fittings at your shop.

Yes, the volume is much lower, but the clicks you’re paying for are hyper-relevant and cheaper.

Quality Scores improve. Conversion rates improve. Revenue improves.

The gist? If you’re not operating nationally, doubling down on local is the key to thwarting your competition.

This is exactly what Firstline Locksmith, a (you guessed it) locksmith servicing the mid-Atlantic region, did. And the strategy continues to pay off.

Wordstream’s Managed Services team was able to scale Firstline’s PPC campaigns quickly and effectively. “They came onboard in December of 2015, with a goal of 50 calls a month from paid search at a $50 CPA. Since then, Firstline has seen 100+ calls each month at a $23 CPA,” says account manager Ashley Noel.

The significant jump in performance didn’t just excite the client: it was good enough to garner some hardware at the US Search Awards for Best Local Campaign. To celebrate this award-winning work, here are some of the techniques Ashley used to help Firstline Locksmith dominate the local SERP (along with how to implement the same techniques in your account).

Tip #1: Dominate Local Business Marketing with Call-Only Ads & Calls from Your Website

What WordStream Did…

The market for residential locksmith services is massive. It’s also hyper-local and uniquely almost entirely mobile. Consequently, our strategy for these campaigns focused exclusively on the mobile searcher. We started with call-only campaigns then, after our initial success, we continued to build out local search campaigns in ad groups focused on specific residential neighborhoods and suburbs.

These campaigns – complete with bid adjustments and mobile preferred ads – cater to the mobile market aggressively. When traditional mobile conversion rates proved to be low, we pivoted. Our goal shifted from driving quote completions to garnering more phone calls from landing pages. These calls were then tracked using WordStream’s keyword level call tracking software, which allowed us to optimize bids and ad copy for these leads.

How You Can, Too...

If your business operates within a vertical in which prospects are met with immediate needs like, say, being locked out in a flannel nightgown at 4am or having broken front teeth or finding his or herself in dire need of a dinner jacket, call-only ads could be right for you.

To create your own call-only campaigns, head to the “Campaign” tab and click the big red button…

 

Then, after naming your new campaign and selecting your desired network (Search), use the final radio button on the right to select “call-only.”

Structurally, call-only ads differ from standard and Expanded Text Ads because the headline is your phone number. This limits the amount of text you have to work with to the confines of the description lines.

Side note: I’m interested to see if/how call-only ads change once Expanded Text Ads become the status-quo. Structurally, I’m not sure how two headlines would work: maybe a phone number paired with a bolded CTA? Plus, the mobile-exclusive nature would guarantee truncation of any long, elaborate description lines. 

It’s important to remember that call-only ads are only going to show in the first two positions. To bring cost per click (which, in this case, is really cost per phone call) down, be sure to maximize Quality Score by utilizing the keywords you’re bidding on in the abridged space for ad copy.

***

If, like Firstline, you’re trying to drive phone calls from a carefully manicured landing page instead of the SERP, you’ll need to set up call tracking software. It’s worth mentioning here that a developer (or, if you’re a WordStream client, our Implementation Team) could be extremely helpful in getting your call tracking to work.

To set up call tracking:

• Establish a pool of phone numbers to be used. The quantity of numbers needed depends on your site’s overall traffic levels.
• Replace the HTML phone number on your website with a snippet of JavaScript code.
• When a PPC visitor clicks your ad, the JavaScript code dynamically inserts one of the phone numbers from your pool of numbers where the old HTML phone number used to be on your website. That number stays with the visitor throughout her visit on your site, no matter what page she navigates to, and continues to stay with her for a predetermined time in case she returns to the site.
• The JavaScript code that was installed on the site captures the keyword that triggered your ad so you can tie the phone call back to the keyword.
• After a while the number gets recycled so you don’t have to keep adding new numbers to your pool

Learn more about mobile PPC strategy.

Tip #2: A Little (Local) Optimization Goes A Long Way

What WordStream Did…

Historically, Firstline had struggled to differentiate itself on the SERP alongside a number of “fake, spammy locksmith advertisers.”

To distinguish itself from competitors leveraging black hat tactics, we created a Google My Business listing for Firstline, which both helped with organic rankings and allowed for the use of location extensions in paid ads. We also curated real reviews from past customers and the Better Business Bureau to highlight the legitimacy of their listings with invaluable review extensions.

How You Can, Too…

To create a Google My Business page, click the link to the left and then click “Start Now.” This will take you to a map of whichever region you select. Simply complete the form, verify, and you’re done(ish)!

I would suggest taking the time to log into your Google My Business account and adding:

• Additional locations
• Phone number
• Website
• Hours (including special hours)
• Photos

It’s completely free, allows you to consume more real estate on the SERP for branded terms, and exists as a resource for future customers. Dominate local business marketing: create an account already!

 

***

To add location extensions to your AdWords ads (a great way to reiterate the fact that your business is just around the corner), navigate to the “Ad Extensions” tab in the AdWords UI and select “Location Extensions.” if you’ve never added a location before, you’ll be prompted to sync your Google My Business account. Once completed and enabled, your ads will start looking something like this:

Learn More about local online marketing.

Tip #3: Geo Ad Customizers, Hyper-Specific Copy Without the Legwork

What WordStream Did... 

Our keyword strategy included building ad groups centered around different services for residential, auto, and business services as well as different cities, neighborhoods, destinations, and routes.

This allowed us to cater our ads and landing pages to speak to the local searcher’s specific needs.

Unfortunately, though, updating local ads frequently became a prohibitively laborious task. To speed things up while still maintaining that oh-so-important locality, we began using geo ad customizers to better speak to a user’s local search query and allow us to better manage our messaging.

Once we included location-specific language in our ad’s headlines, Firstline saw improvements to their CTR and Quality Score. 

How You Can, Too…

To create geo ad customizers in AdWords, you need to build a feed and upload it into the Business data section of the Shared Library tab.

Feed construction can be a pain, but as long as you include the fields you’re trying to modify, you shouldn’t have an issue. Here’s a template you can use to get started with customizer feed construction, and here’s a list of all of the possible targeting attributes you can include in your feed! 

Once your feed has been uploaded, navigate to a campaign in which you wish to implement geo-specific ad copy and create a new text ad:

The next step is similar to (read: the exact same as) using Dynamic Keyword insertion. Simply insert a bracket, like so ‘{‘, and a list of feeds will appear. Select the feed you’d like to reference and then choose the attribute for the values you will want to show in the ad (I’ll stop saying “feed” now, I promise).

While the text that’s displayed in the UI will look like a convoluted mess…

 

your prospects will be served an ad that speaks to both their needs and their location.

Remember: Character limits will apply when creating the ads, so keep the attribute values and ad text within the Expanded Text Ad limits.

Learn More about Geo Customizers!

***

Leveraging the techniques highlighted above, Firstline Locksmith’s account manager Ashley Noel has incited a 30% increase in conversion rates and, perhaps more important, a vast improvement in call quality. Click here to learn more about WordStream’s Managed Services offering or schedule a free consultation today!

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Getting Started with Google Advertising [Video Series]

We know there are a lot of people out there with questions about Google AdWords – what it is, how it works, and how to do it effectively. We know this because some of our all-time most popular pages on this site attempt to answer these questions – take our infographic on how the AdWords auction works, our guide to how much AdWords costs, and our industry benchmarks that show average click-through rate, cost per click, conversion rate, and cost per action in 20 different industries (for both search and display) so you can get a sense of how your performance compares.

We also know you’re all really busy! That’s why we decided to turn these popular guides into three quick one-minute videos. Each video provides a high-level answer to these three questions that are so common among new Google advertisers. If you’ve got three minutes, you’ve got time to learn a little about how Google advertising works!

How Does Google Advertising Work?

How Much Does Google Advertising Cost?

Google Advertising Performance Benchmarks by Industry

More Google Advertising Resources

Want to dig deeper? Check out PPC University, our free resource for learning Google AdWords and pay-per-click marketing, from PPC 101 to Advanced PPC and Social Ads.

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New Display Targeting, AdWords Message Extensions, and Other Top Stories from October

Whether you went out over the weekend or are preparing for a night of debauchery and questionable costumes tonight, All Hallows Eve is upon us once again.

 

Before we get to the inevitable anxiety about Thanksgiving – and the subsequent descent into the madness of the holidays – let’s take a look back at the top stories from the WordStream blog in October. From stealthy new additions to Display keyword targeting options to new AdWords extensions, there was a lot going on this month.

1. Google Silently Introduces New Display Keywords Targeting Settings

The biggest story of the WordStream blog in October was the news that Google had surreptitiously added new targeting features to Display campaign keywords. These new targeting options give Display advertisers greater control over where and how their ads are displayed. Essential reading for Display network advertisers.

2. 11 Battle-Tested Ways to Raise Your SEO Click-Through Rate [Infographic]

It’s getting increasingly difficult to get the mileage out of organic content that used to be possible, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take proactive measures to improve your organic click-through rates. In our second-most popular post of October, Larry outlines 11 battle-tested ways to raise your SEO CTR.

3. 6 Crazy Social Media Ad Ideas to Make You Look Like a Big Deal

Social media ads are more popular than ever before, but with more advertisers comes more pressure to get creative with your ads. Luckily for you, Larry is here to come to your rescue. In this post, Larry offers six crazy ideas to increase your profile on your social channels and make you look like social media royalty.

4. 3 Simple PPC Formulas Proven to Lower Your Costs

The simplest ideas are often the best, and although advanced techniques can help you stay ahead of the curve, sometimes you’ve got to get back to basics. In our fourth-most popular post of October, Mark outlines three simple PPC formulas that will help you lower your costs – and what advertiser doesn’t want to do that?

5. The Easy Guide to Maximizing Your AdWords ROI

Getting the most bang for your buck was obviously a theme in this month’s round-up. In this post, Allen explains everything you need to know about maximizing the ROI of your campaigns, no matter what your campaign objectives may be. There’s some great tips in here, so be sure to check it out.  

5. NEW AdWords Message Extensions Enable High-CTR Click-to-Message Ads [Data]

The introduction of new ad extensions is always a big deal, and the announcement of AdWords’ new Message Extensions was no exception. In our fifth-most popular post of the month, Mark goes into detail about exactly what you can do with these new extensions, and how they can impact the effectiveness of your campaigns.

6. Top 5 Mobile Tests to Try This Month

Mobile search volume is increasing all the time, making it vital to test new strategies and techniques for your mobile campaigns. In this post, guest author Talia Wolf of Banana Splash outlines five mobile tests you can implement right now and stay ahead of the competition in an increasingly challenging space.

7. 10 Reasons Your Site is Preventing Conversions Right Now

Even if you think your site is as optimized as it can be, but there are more hidden pitfalls that could be hurting your efforts than meets the eye. In this guest post, David Hoos of The Good reveals 10 ways your site could be harming your conversion rates – some of which you may not even have considered.

8. The Ultimate Guide to Tracking, Targeting, and Driving Conversions on Facebook

Facebook offers advertisers a wealth of conversion tracking options, but for the uninitiated, it can be a minefield out there. In this comprehensive guide, Brett McHale explains absolutely everything you need to know about using Facebook’s universal tracking pixel to track, target, and drive conversions on Facebook – essential reading for social advertisers.

9. 13 Great Mobile Marketing Tools You Need

As Mary points out in our penultimate post of this month’s round-up, it’s a mobile-first world – and everyone is pretty much sick of hearing about it. Despite “mobile fatigue,” it’s never been more important to leverage every tool at your disposal to succeed at mobile social advertising, and in this post, Mary checks out 13 tools you need to succeed.

10. The Art & Science of High-Converting Landing Page Images

Landing pages can be among the most effective tools at marketers’ disposal, but there is both an art and a science to optimizing landing page images – a highly important element of the best landing pages. In our final post of this month’s best-of, Brad Smith shows you exactly what you need to do to optimize your landing page images and increase your conversion rates.

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The 3-Step Guide to Hiring an Agency or Any 3rd Party Vendor

Is it Time to Hire an Agency?

Even the best of us DIYers all eventually run up against something that makes little sense for us to tackle on our own and we have to hire a professional to get the results we want. When I first bought my home, I got HGTV Magazine just to read the section where a handyman answers home improvement questions with either:  “Ask a Pro” or “Give it a Go.”  Basically it has a question like, “I have termite damage, should I try to fix it myself?” (uh, no) or, “I need to replace a doorknob (go for it!).”

Even though I am a proud DIY enthusiast, the homeowner stuff freaked me out.  I was talking to my then boss who owned some rental real estate and was a DIY home renovation hobbyist. He told me he felt the same way I did about home projects as he did about computers. We both looked at each other like we were aliens and at the same time said, “But if something on a [house -him] [computer -me] goes wrong you just fix it.” 

For a small business, it can be more complicated than just “I can’t do it so I’ll hire someone who can.” Sometimes it’s not the skillset of the new project that’s the issue, but the time it would take away from an internal team member to do it. For most of the hundreds of small businesses I have worked with, the Owner or General Manager is often the salesperson, the marketer, HR, payroll, webmaster and so on. In other words there is a lot of awesome DIY going on in small businesses and sometimes it works great and sometimes, well, it doesn’t, and experts have to be hired.

So the first part of learning how to hire a third party to handle a facet of your business is to answer the age old HGTV magazine question: Hire a Pro or Give it a Go? In lieu of Q&A here is a flowchart that I (obviously) DIYed.

This Flowchart Assumes the Following:

1. You cannot afford NOT to do this project based on the goals of your business. You have already decided that “The Thing” you need done, whether that’s someone to run your online marketing, build your website, or cater your next event is something you must do.
2. You can afford to hire a 3rd party to do “The Thing” for you.
3. You cannot justify hiring a full- or a part-time team member for “The Thing.”
4. You = the main decision maker for “The Thing”

Congrats to all of you give-it-a-goers! Stop reading, grab some coffee and go get on YouTube or Lynda.

For the rest of you, let’s talk about how you should go about hiring a business to help run your business. In my former position as Marketing Manager at Mobile Electronics Specialists of America (M.E.S.A.) a huge part of my job was hiring and managing third-party marketing vendors. Why? Because M.E.S.A. is a 150+ retailer buying and marketing group but the M.E.S.A. team was (and still is) quite small. So it was impossible to do it all. We often got stuck on the “Do you have time to do this” part of the flowchart, so we hired pros.

For half a decade I was on the client side of B2B discovery and sales calls 2-3 times per month on average. Sometimes they were event vendors, sometimes they were digital marketing agencies, sometimes they were digital sign vendors, and the list goes on. That means I’ve talked to SO MANY of these companies and through it all I’ve learned that it’s like hiring anyone: you ultimately don’t know how it will work out until you take the leap and hire them.

That doesn’t mean however, you can’t set yourself up for success. Use these 3 steps to make sure you partner with the best possible organization for your goals.

[Still not sure if you need an agency or not? Check out our free guide, 3 Signs That You Need an Agency]

 

STEP 1: Start With You, Not With Them

Before you begin researching possibilities for partners on this project, make sure you know what you want. You can be flexible later if need be but always start with you. When a B2B company’s sales pitch is 100% about them and they ask nothing about you and your business that is a big red flag (see Step 3). I mean would you have a second date with someone who only talked about themselves for 1.5 hours? Hopefully not.

Many B2B organizations have a wide range of offerings. For example, an agency might offer SEO, PPC, Call Tracking, Web Design, Sales Training, Business Listings, and Content Creation. If you were really only looking for PPC help they are still going to try to sell you the rest of those offerings. They might send you something scary that shows you how much you need them to take over that other part of your business that you were not even considering in your original plan.

I am not saying you shouldn’t consider those pitches, but don’t lose sight of your original goal and budget. If you are interested in other services that come up along the way, make it clear that you would like to accomplish the original goal first before moving on to a next phase. In the meantime, do your own research to confirm whether or not their additional products or services are actually of value to your company.

It is crucially important that you keep your eye on the ball and not be intimidated by excessive shiny jargon (another red flag) and scare tactics. Any car owner who doesn’t know much about cars knows this is easier said than done though, right? Why? Because if you lack the expertise to know exactly how to fix the car or whether or not it’s even broken, you need to find someone who does. Quite the pickle. (Are these baseball metaphors working for you?) That is why trusting your new partner is one of the most important factors in deciding who to work with. You should also remain mindful of what you do know: what you want out of this partnership.

Try This: compose a new email and address it to yourself. For the subject sum up what you need done. In the body describe exactly what you want to accomplish, how much you want to spend to accomplish it, and a sentence or two about the type of people you want to work with including what a trustworthy company looks like to you. It should take you 2-3 minutes tops. Click Send.

Note to Project Managers: Okay yes, a full statement of work would be ideal but let’s get real, are small business owners and GMs really going to do one? Well if they do that’s great! But the idea behind this “email to self” is to get to the heart of what ultimately really matters fast. If that’s all you have time to do, it should help you as a reference along the way.

Good job, now let’s move on.

STEP 2: Finding a Partner

Every love story has the “how we met” story. Looking for someone to run your Facebook ads or SEO strategy probably won’t be an actual love story (who knows though!?) but still you have to find one another somehow and you have to do it all (gasp) without Tinder!

Here are my top three strategies for finding the right partner in a marketing agency:

Ask Other Businesses

If you’re a local business, find a non-competing company (like in a different geographic area) in your industry that seems to be doing a good job with what you’re trying to do. You might need to do a little research to find them or you may already have good industry contacts you can start with. If you can’t find anyone in your industry to help, try other businesses in your area that have similar challenges as you and seem to be managing them how you would like to.

Don’t forget about your other vendors. Do you work with other businesses already? For example, at my current position we work with car dealerships, car/home audio and electronics vendors, and boat dealerships. Who do they work with? You may get multiple recommendations from this exercise, which would be great. Set up calls with them all.

Ask Your Team

You might have someone on board who worked with a great company for this service at a previous position or they might have other relevant contacts that can help in your search.

Google

I know you did this first and that’s fine. The downside to Google is that there are SO MANY B2B PRODUCT & SERVICE PROVIDERS. Go back to your email to self from Step 2 to help you narrow down your search. Is it important to you that they be in your area? Can you afford those top companies that pop up? Do you want someone who has experience in your vertical? I found the lovely people over at WebMason with a simple google search for franchise printing solutions and they’re one of my favorite vendor hires ever! So even though it can be daunting, throw some cold Google leads in the mix.

More tips on partner hunting:

• Don’t Hate the Player: Talk to 3-5 companies and make sure they know they aren’t the only ones you’re talking to.
• Raise Your Hand: Make a list of specific and direct questions you have and ask them all to each company. Note discrepancies, whether or not they answer directly, and whether they seem annoyed by your inquiries or welcome them.
• Keep Their Enemies Close: Ask them straight up who their #1 competitor is. If they tell you (many dance around this one for obvious reasons) ask why you shouldn’t go with them instead. Then talk to the competitor.
• In Free Stuff We Trust: I recently had a call with iFocus Marketing and their National Sales Manager, Whitney Barker, offered me some great objective user feedback about our site’s mobile user experience that I was able to address and fix in minutes. We haven’t signed anything with them yet but that first taste of their expertise and potential value was a huge step in the right direction for me. I’m really not saying this just because this is their blog but WordStream does this really well and it’s one of the reasons people trust them.
• We Want Prenup. Not really but you know what I mean. Should you part ways, you should leave with at least what you started with. Make sure you retain ownership level access of all digital properties and accounts that you own that they help manage. Get it in writing.

STEP 3: Watch for These 9 Red Flags

Now for the fun part. Use these red flags as a guide to help you in your vetting process. But note: They only work if you’re honest with yourself about them. I know it’s tempting to just go with the first company you talked to because you have zero time, but avoiding bad eggs will save you time and money in the long run.

Not that kind of red flag

Red flag #1: You know 2 or more (yikes) other businesses that you trust that have had a bad experience with them. My father in law is a mathematician and always likes to remind me that, “Two is a pattern.” But you don’t have to be a mathematician to know that this situation isn’t looking good. Don’t even waste your time with a call with this company. Dealbreaker, move on. 

Red flag #2: They will not allow you access to something you owned before the relationship. See the prenup tip in Step 2. I have dealt with this mess and it isn’t pretty. Dealbreaker, move on.

Red flag #3: They dodge questions about current or past clients and/or projects and will not provide any portfolio or examples of work. Or, their portfolio is bad. Dealbreaker, move on.

A detailed design portfolio

Red flag #4: They ask you few or no questions about your business, your goals, or your industry. Even if they have experience in your vertical. Workable: If everything else seems okay see if you can talk to someone higher up. You may just have an inexperienced salesperson. Make sure you will ultimately be working with someone who does care about your goals and wants to understand your business.

Red flag #5: Overusing repetitive scripted pitches. Some of you salespeople out there are mad at me about this one and I’m sorry (not sorry).  If they can’t think around every angle of your problem in relation to their own product, it’s possible they don’t completely understand their own offerings OR they don’t completely understand what you need. Workable: This happens all the time because salespeople are usually expert salespeople but may not have a deep technical understanding of what they sell. That’s why this one is workable. Ask to have a 2nd call that also includes a practical member of the team who will actually be working with you on the project. If you’re still not having a real conversation.

Red flag #6: They repeatedly refuse to answer or purposely dodge direct questions.

Dealbreaker, move on. This might be one of the most frustrating experiences as a client. I should have made this Red Flag #1 because it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. In my experience, people do this for 1 of 2 reasons: they don’t know the answer, or they know that you aren’t going to like their answer.  Answering questions honestly (even if it’s, “I don’t know but I’ll find out for you”) builds trust; but not answering questions or avoiding them destroys it. It’s pretty simple, people.

Red flag #7: They are very late to or miss scheduled meetings to sell you on their products or services. Dealbreaker, move on.

I had a pretty pricey web project I was getting multiple bids for and I had a call set up with a company to pitch me on the project and…. the guy just forgot about the call. A WEEK later, he emailed me and was very apologetic and begged me to reschedule, but I didn’t. Maybe I was being too harsh but I stand by the decision. I get that people make mistakes but if they don’t show up when it means making them money, they probably aren’t going to show up when they already have your money. They should value your time from the get go and want to earn your trust.

Red flag #8: You know something crucial about their area of expertise that they do not. Dealbreaker, move on.

A person in a social marketing agency once told me I needed to use hashtags on Facebook.  Which sounds all fine and dandy here in 2016 except for the fact that this was about 2 years before hashtagging was even possible on Facebook. He didn’t use social media himself, must have been confused about something he heard, and never bothered to confirm it. If you’re going to hire an expert, make sure they’re actually an expert. If you don’t, remember you often get what you pay for (or don’t pay for as it were.)

Red flag #9: You have a bad feeling about them/You don’t think they are being honest with you/They seem to purposely talk over your head/They over-jargon their sales pitches. Judgment Call.

My friend owns a business and he found a company through word of mouth to build his website and possibly handle his Google AdWords account. He asked me to talk to the rep there because my friend doesn’t speak online marketing-ese. I exchanged a few emails with the rep and he came off kind of rude and pushy but when I got him on the phone he was all smoothed out. When I called my friend to tell him that I thought they would be fine, he said he had a bad feeling about the guy and the company. He thought the guy was too pushy and he wasn’t sure he liked him. From there, my friend needed to make that call for himself but for me it’s a dealbreaker: it hurts my soul to work with people I truly don’t like. My boss once said he can work with people he likes, with people he doesn’t like, but he cannot work with someone he can’t trust. Seems pretty reasonable to me. You have to decide where you stand on that for yourself but don’t ignore it as a red flag.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations! You now have an expert you trust to run something that will help you obtain your business goals! But don’t just settle on autopilot. People, technology, businesses, and goals all can change without much notice.  Just because there were no red flags when you started working with an agency doesn’t mean that in a year or two there won’t be. Make sure that it continues to be the right investment for your business.

About the author

Erin Costello is the Director of Marketing for Freeman's Car Stereo in Charlotte, North Carolina. Previously she was the Marketing Manager for Mobile Electronics Specialists of America for 5 years: a 250+ brick and mortar storefront buying and marketing group of 12 volt (car audio electronics) retailers. She is also the co-founder of the non-profit literary publishing project, SpringGun Press, which publishes poetry, fiction, and digital art. Originally from Northern California, she graduated with a B.A. in English from University of California, Davis and earned a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from University of Colorado, Boulder. She works from home and lives in Denver, CO with her husband and daughter. Follow her on Twitter: @erinmcostello

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