A lot of companies are very uneducated and naive when it comes to SEO & PPC. They often choose to have their webmaster, IT or marketing manager setup and run their online campaigns. You will see this in the following example that I stumbled across while enjoying some YouTube videos.

The Advert

Firstly this Ad doesn’t explain anything about the company “Pepscorp” therefore anyone who clicks on the ad is just going to be as random as me clicking on the ad. Remember every time someone clicks on the ad it costs money! That’s why it’s insane to have an ad firstly reach unqualified people, and secondly doesn’t clearly and effectively market anything other than a name.

The company should of setup their ad with their company logo, some sort of sales text and a call to action. This would have let people know who they are, what they’re marketing, and why they should buy from this company.

The Landing Page

After clicking on the Ad you get taken to this really awful looking website, like something out of the early 90′s selling industrial and commercial equipment. I wonder if they even ship their products to Thailand? If not why is the ad running in Thailand. Probably because the person who setup the ad set the ad to run in all countries. And this is usually the case for every company that runs their Google AdWords in-house.

The results from Pepscorp AdWords campaign is likely to be very unsuccessful. Judging by their location targeting, their advert and website they have probably also setup the user targeting as well.

Google AdWords is a great way to generate traffic to your website instantly, track conversions and get your online business booming. However when it is setup incorrectly or not optimised correctly, you end up with fewer conversions and a higher cost per click. Marketing Bangkok is here to help, being a Certified Partner Company with tons of experience in online marketing and managing the AdWords campaigns for companies from all industries we can achieve the following;

• Research your target audience.
• Create effective ads that will attract clicks from people interested in your product.
• Improve quality score resulting in cheaper average cost-per-click and higher ad positions.
• Track conversion rates and then optimize your account to target the ads and keywords which are converting into a sale/lead.

Search Engine Optimization is a constantly evolving industry and while search engine ranking algorithms get smarter, SEO gets harder, therefore choosing the right SEO company is essential. The sole purpose for search engines is to return the most accurate results and rankings when a user searches for different keywords. If the returned results are not good enough then the user making the search may switch to another search provider. To retain as many users as possible search engines constantly work on their algorithms which are used to determine how a website should rank. This means that when building authority to your website it must be done in a natural manner, this means a lot of time must be invested by the SEO company. Q7PY2TCKUTBR

SEO companies that are using automated and spam techniques will often result in an undesirable outcome for your SEO campaign. Instead of carefully and tactically building authority back to your website some online companies, mostly located in India, will take one piece of content and then using software they will spin this one piece of content into hundreds of different variations to put through out the internet. Now one of the main reasons why this is bad for you is because software that spins the articles (effectively re-writing them) usually does a very poor job, so when a real person is reading this content and sees you company associated with a horrible piece of content it will not look good for your brand image.

Another widely used technique from these nasty SEO companies is the use of automatic submissions, this means they will take one piece of content, spin it into 100′s of versions and then use another piece of software to automatically submit this article and the spun versions through out the web, most of the times to poor low authority sites that aren’t going to contribute any decent amount of authority back into your website. This is spamming, and the only result if any is a brief boost in ranking before your site get penalized.

Most of these primary Indian SEO companies will use email spam in order to attract new business, this in itself should set off alarm bells as this probably means they can’t even generate decent results for themselves from effective SEO, if that’s the case how how are they going to do it for you?

But beware, these problems don’t just exist for online Indian companies, we’ve spoken to local companies here in Bangkok who in the past have hired SEO companies who have not only provided very poor results, they also took down all the links built through out the campaign down for the client after the client canceled their services. So essentially the business hiring the SEO firm has paid for nothing. Another problem that plagues other SEO companies here is when you look at their client list (if proudly displayed on their website) you’ll see competing businesses in the same industry all using the same SEO company. Due the the nature of SEO and trying to rank one website high for a popular keyword that every other site in the same industry wants, this doesn’t work!

It is not all doom and gloom, with the right SEO partners you can have real authority built back to your website which will result in higher rankings and all that comes with dominating search engine result pages. Stay tuned for my next blog post which will be how to hire the perfect SEO company for you.

What does this mean for you? Well when you choose us to setup and manage your pay-per-click ads, you are choosing one of very few qualified companies in Thailand. You can have peace of mind that your AdWords are in good hands. We will setup ads that will bring in the most qualified traffic, and we also offer advanced services such as split testing and conversion tracking.

To find out more about our Google AdWords services please visit our Google AdWords pay-per-click page.

You’ll notice now that on all of our major service pages we’ve included a placeholder for a YouTube video (except our SEO training video as we made this a while back). Video is the way of the future and we hope to remove the place holders and have videos that best describe why MarketingBangkok.com is different from local and international competitors.

We’ve spent a lot of time to insure each page relays as much information as possible, adding a FAQ to each page as well. There are still a few more updates to be done for the website so keep an eye out for them.

Below is the evolution of our website over the past 2 years!

To become certified by Google I had to take two exams, Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam which was 113 questions and the second being Search Advertising Advanced Exam which was 109 questions. You are required to take both exams to become certified and each exams requires a score above 75% to pass, which I was able to clear much higher. You can view my exam transcripts here.

With this certification behind me, I hope to manage more AdWords accounts and achieve great results for our clients.

Google has now anouced it’s “+1″ button which will alow users to click +1 on content or search results that they recommend. From the above video it looks as though you will be able to embed a +1 button within different pages of you website allowing your visitors to recommend your content. It has been about a year since Facebook introduced it’s “like” button plug in, allowing visitors to your website to “like” your content sharing it within their Facebook account.

Currently when looking on a search results page (SERPS) it will show back websites that you or your friends may have shared, but the process of sharing is a lot more involved than simply clicking on a +1 button. Soon we will see websites that have been +1′d by friends which will definitely impact the SEO world. Byttow says Google will “start to look at +1′s as one of the many signals we use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, including social signals from other services. For +1′s, as with any new ranking signal, we’ll be starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality over time.”

Google is in the process of slowly rolling out this new social signal, starting with just the English Google.com. If you want to check out +1 buttons Google will soon let users opt-in via an experimental search site and if you’re interested in adding plus one buttons to your website you can visit here to sign up for notifications.

Search Engine Optimization is a interesting dynamic industry to be in, espically with all updates and changes and even more so practicing SEO in Thailand. This latest update is named “Panda“, and whilst no one knows for sure what exactly has been included in the update, Google’s Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal do share and release information from time to time and recently sat down for an interview at Wired.

Some of the highlights from this interview was the discussion of using outside testers to form a definition of what users consider low quality. They asked questions like “Would you be comfortable giving this site your credit card? Would you be comfortable giving medicine prescribed by this site to your kids?” Matt Cutts then on went to say “There was an engineer who came up with a rigorous set of questions, everything from. “Do you consider this site to be authoritative? Would it be okay if this was in a magazine? Does this site have excessive ads?” Questions along those lines.”

WebProNews has a nice break down of notable changes in Panda.

What we know Google is looking at with the Panda update:

- User comfort level in the trust area (think credit card/medicine comments)

- Is it considered authoritative (this would apply some indication of expertise on topics covered, I would think)

- Is the content quality good enough for print? (I’ve seen plenty of crap printed)

- Are there too many ads? (How many are too many, and does the ad network matter?)

- We know Google has its definition of what could be considered low quality

- Google uses a “classifier” to draw a line in the sand

- We know that so far, Google has not used indications from the Chrome Extension (emphasis on so far. Google hinted in the past that this data could potentially be used to tweak the algorithm).

- Google looks at feedback, at least to some extent

- Based on comments from Cutts, Google will tell you why your site dropped (getting that communication flow going may not be the easiest thing to do, but I have personally witnessed Cutts sit down with someone at a conference and look at their site with them.)

- The algorithm can still be gamed. It can still be optimized for. (If you were hit by the update, there are things you can do to get back in Google’s good graces. In other words, you’re not necessarily banned just because of your brand.)

- Most of the changes in rankings will be done algorithmically, but Google will take manual action in some instances (see JC Penney)

-If you use any auto-generated content keep it separated from the original high quality stuff, and block it from search engines. Google’s John Mu said recently, “If you do have such high-quality, unique and compelling content, I’d recommend separating it from the auto-generated rest of the site, and making sure that the auto-generated part is blocked from crawling and indexing, so that search engines can focus on what makes your site unique and valuable to users world-wide.”

This is basically in line with another statement from Google obtained by Search Engine Land: “Sites that believe they have been adversely impacted by the change should be sure to extensively evaluate their site quality. In particular, it’s important to note that low quality pages on one part of a site can impact the overall ranking of that site. Publishers who believe they’ve been impacted can also post in our webmaster forums to let us know. We will consider feedback from publishers and the community as we continue to refine our algorithms.”

So there you have it, of course you can click on some of the links provided through out this post to find out more information about the “Panda” update. If you’re interested in improving your website visibility and traffic by climbing the ranks of Google for keyword phrases relating to your business, you can view our SEO & eMarkeitng plans, or check out our 3 day SEO training course.

How to Use Facebook for Your Small Business
By: Kandie Day

Leveraging Facebook to generate leads, build site traffic, and even make a little money is every small business owner’s goal. But in most cases, it’s not as simple as getting on once a week for an hour, posting a bunch of ‘interesting’ information, and getting on with your life hoping that the leads will start flowing in. Facebook is a remarkable tool for creating a ‘buzz’ about your small business and inviting new friends to check out your services, but done in the wrong way Facebook can also hurt your overall brand image.

Facebook reaches millions upon millions of people: 500 million to be exact. And 200 million Facebook users are mobile, getting their Facebook fix from their Android, iPhone, and Windows devices. According to the Facebook Press Room, in 2010 the average Facebook user was connected to 80 community pages, groups, and events; created 90 pieces of content each month; and shared more than 30 billion links, news stories, blog posts, and pictures.

Marketing your business on Facebook is no longer a ‘maybe we’ll do it this year.’ It’s nearly a requirement to establish your brand as credible, available, and trending. We’ve put together the top three things you must do on Facebook to be successful, as well as the top three things you absolutely should not do on Facebook. Let’s start with the bad news first and end with the good news.

Top 3 Mistakes Small Business Owners Make on Facebook

1. Over-Posting – I see this mistake made over and over again. In most cases it happens because small business owners have great intentions and want to be active on the social networks, but they either don’t have time throughout the week or they just plain forget. When they do remember, or do have some marketing time, they jump on Facebook, don’t join any conversations or start new ones, but post about five status updates, links and news information in a 15 minute time frame.

2. Not Enough Time – Maybe 15 minutes is all the time that you have for Facebook, and if that’s the case then you might want to consider adding some help to your marketing team. By over-posting, you’re not giving followers a reason to be interested in your company, you’re giving them a reason to “unfriend” you. Take your time with posts. If you do only have 15 minutes on Friday evening to get your Facebook marketing done, put up your most interesting status update in the first minute, spend 12 minutes seeking out new friends and conversations, and in the 15th minute post your second most interesting status update.

3. Unbranding Your Business – Facebook is a great resource for keeping up your small business brand. It’s important to ‘stay in character’ and to ‘stay in business mode’ while spreading information about your business brand. Playing games, talking about personal issues, or posting inappropriate pictures will kill your brand. Spending time on Cityville and Farmville from your Facebook business pages will only show that you’re not professional and not concerned with how your business brand appears to others.

Top 3 Things A Small Business Owner Must Do On Facebook

1. Brand Your Business - Send a clear message with every status update, photo upload, and conversation piece about your brand. For example, a client of Linwright Design happens to be in the field of pain management, and a lot of patients are living with things like RA and fibromyalgia. So we seek to join conversations around these topics, spreading our overall brand message by suggesting information from our website and our branded blogs on these conditions. As a small business owner, your profile picture can be your logo with information about your business, or if you are proud of your team and want to make your brand a bit more personal, it can be a “family” photo of your employees.

2. Seek Out Conversations – Don’t be over-active in ‘fríend requesting’ strangers. For one thing, you will get penalized and possibly even blacklisted from Facebook all together, which is the last thing you want. Seek out conversations in your industry by doing searches with keywords. For example, for our pain management client mentioned above we search keywords ‘fibromyalgia’ (and more) to listen to and join conversations that people are already having about this condition.

(Tip: Go to the search box at the top of your Facebook Page. Enter the keywords that you are searching for. Go to the bottom of the search results where it says “see more results.” Look to the left and click on “posts by everyóne.” This will take you to the world and all conversations on Facebook regarding your industry. Listen to what people are talking about, get ideas for blogs, and join conversations.)

3. Be Consistent – Facebook, as with any other social media platform, is all about consistency. So you only have an hour a week to spend on Facebook? Spread that hour out throughout the entire week. Even 15 minutes every day will help more than one hour in one day. You have to be available to your Facebook friends and you have to be able to monitor your brand. If someone leaves a comment or asks a question, you need to be able to answer those or respond. Even 15 minutes, at the end of your day, every day, will make a small but crucial difference over time.

About The Author
Kandie Day is founder of Linwright Design, specializing in digital development and distribution. Mainly Arizona SEO www.linwrightdesign.com, social media marketing, branded content development, and in-depth analytics.

First off, happy new year to all our friends and business associates, may the new year be a great one for you and your families. I thought i’d start off 2011 with my first post on Facebook pay per click advertising.

Facebook PPC is really quiet intriguing as you can target who your will view your ads, and reach a specific group of people based on their profile information. You might have noticed how certain ads show up when browsing through Facebook relate to topics you’ve specified in your profile or clicked “like”. Well when setting up Facebook ads you can also set who your ads will reach based on age, sex, relationship status location, languages, groups in which they’re a member of, and much more.

You can drive traffic to your own website or even your Facebook page, though in my opinion you should focus on driving traffic to your own website and have your Facebook page’s like box embedded somewhere on the page. This way you’ll get traffic directly to your website and give people get the opportunity to click “like” on your Facebook page. It is possible to really customize your Facebook page, and if you are running a Facebook competition or trying to promote your companies presence on Facebook then driving traffic to the Facebook page may be apart of your strategy.

So which PPC provider should you choose as a company? We’ll the best platforms are definitely Google AdWords and Facebook Ads so either one is quite good and you’ll be able to reach all sorts of people who may be interested in your products or services. However Google AdWords does get on average much higher CTR (click through ratio) than Facebook Ads, however with Facebook ads, because Facebook has specific user data (ages, locations, likes etc) you can really target a qualified audience. Pricing does vary between the two providers, as always more competitive terms are more expensive, so you’ll have to do your own research for that.

Stay turned for Part 2, when I observe some live Facebook ads!