Claudia Apon- Digital Marketing BUS356

1. How could you use SocioViz to identify influencers? 

SocioViz is a platform that follows the Twitter users who use a website. These analytics help us identify influencers by the amount of favorites or retweets a tweet is given.

2. Identify a brand influencer for your client’s business using SocioViz (please attach a screenshot from SocioViz to your blog).

The term I chose to search was “hibachi” for my client. To discover the top influencers, I searched this in SocioViz and discovered that “Mother’s Day” and “reservations” were the most popular hashtags. This allowed me to discover that those are the occasions people go to a hibachi restaurant. Also, I found it interesting that the most active users had the word “hibachi” in their username.

According to Hot-bot, about 81 percent of respondents agreed that recommendations and posts from family and friends directly influenced their buying decisions. What do you think are some of the benefits of using brand influencers? Summarize at least two points from the reading of the chapter.

By using brand influencers, it spreads awareness about a brand and allows for them to build a reputation. It also influences any of the influencers idols, who would be convinced to try the product as well. With the social media platforms today, it can allow the viewer to feel as though they are part of the influencers life if they use the product as well.

Will influencer marketing be more effective than Google Ads? Why? Summarize at least two points from the reading of the chapter or the following articles.

I think for large businesses this is more influential because the audience they are targeting lives on social media and following others’ lives. Also, they can select who their influencers would be so it narrows down the target audience better and would be relevant to the people who would appeal to the product. For example, if an athlete were to be an influencer for Nike, the people who look up to him/her and share common interest would be more susceptible to being the “target audience”.

• Describe  the  benefits  of  creating  an  email  creation  strategy  and  process.    Why  was  it important  for  CommonBond?

Email strategy was the best way for CommonBond. It was so important to CommonBond because they were able to analyze their target audience depending on who clicked on the email. The email strategy was successful because it was an easy way to get someone to click on the information when it was directly in their inbox.

• Describe  any  risks  of  creating  a  3-­month  forward  looking  email  calendar.

The risks with creating a 3-month forward email is that the information may not be as up to date or relevant and cause the reader to just click over the email. This may result in the subscriber to opt out because of the information not being interesting.

• With  relatively  high  open  and  click-­through  rates  to  date,  how  should  the  team  measure success  of  the  new  strategy  and  process?    How  would  they  know  if  the  effort  of  planning was  making  an  impact?

For the team to measure their success they would have to set a time frame to study and see how many click through rates converted over into customers. This would be the conversion rate as to how many people clicked the email and why.

• What  would  you  do  to  improve  the  strategy  or  process?

I wouldn’t do anything to improve the strategy besides study the trends of the click through rates more and find out what emails are the most popular and why? Are there any specific trends that are more attractable?

• Should  CommonBond  consider  an  entirely  new  thread  of  emails  customers  of  new products  that  they  launch?

I would say that yes CommonBond should consider creating a new thread of emails for customers who may potentially be interested in new products the launch. I think that each product attracts a different customer, so it would not hurt to draw in new potential customers.

Moz- YMCA

Boy’s and Girls Club

After comparing both results from the two organizations, I was able to identify some key factors. First off, that both organizations had current events, or news sources, that linked viewers to their site. I also felt like YMCA was more spoken about local with the Portland Press Herald. Another observation I made was that the YMCA’s top pages on the site varied whereas the Boys and Girl’s club only had basically the homepage and one other page. This allows me to make the assumption that the other pages are not explored as much. Both websites were relatively the same on the graph with being at 30 for domain authority. Another observation I made was that YMCA’s domain authority was up by 3, from 30 for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club to 33 for the YMCA. The linking domains was also up by an immense amount. The Boy’s and Girl’s Club was at 270 while YMCA was at 472. Overall, this tells me that the YMCA Portland site is used much more and this could be because of the news articles it has recently been advertised in recently. I think linking people to these sites are crucial in a sense of getting viewers. The output and importance of the sections (.com, .org, .net etc) differ and have higher trust depending on each ending because they all stand for something. For example, I know from my mom’s business, a domain costs more depending on if you want .com versus .net. The “.com” is a lot more popular for people to search, therefore the price for that domain is more competitive. As far as “.org” goes, this is usually for organizations that are well known and verified as an organization, which makes it more trusting. People also trust “.gov” as a reliable source because it is owned by the government and officially approved to put out the information, making sure it is true prior. I will be performing my SEO analysis on the YMCA since that was my group’s previous client and we are still waiting for Google to determine us a new client.

Afterwards, I searched up “recreational facilities near Portland, Maine” to discover if YMCA or Boys and Girls club came up. All I was able to figure out was that the SERP Analysis links all led to portlandmaine.gov. I found this interesting because if a viewer clicked that site, maybe the Press Herald would be linked (since it is Portland’s most popular magazine) and then they could search recreational facilities on there. This would then pull up YMCA. After realizing that the difficulty is not that high and neither site came up, this tells me that my client and competitor both need to include these keywords so they appear when a search is conducted. The keywords I chose were fairly simple to sum up the facilities therefore there is no reason for them to not appear.

A. Create a Landing Page

LANDING PAGE LINK:

https://gopropromo.wishpondpages.com/claudia-apon/

B.

Consider the layout, use of colors, navigation, pictures, colors, etc. As you plan for the landing page, please evaluate your own landing pages by referring to the following questions again. Please answer the following questions in your mini-essay and then post the evaluation to your blog. 

• What are the value propositions?
• What are the calls to action?
• What demographic are you trying appeal to? Do you think if you are doing a good job of that?
• Is it obvious and clear what you wants visitors to do to convert?
• Perform a Google Mobile friendly test (https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly ) and attach a screenshot of your result to your blog post. Is your site mobile friendly or not? 
• Should I include this Assignment next semester? Why or why not?

My landing page started off with adjusting the colors to not be so bright to the viewers eye. I also wanted to reflect the company (GoPro) that it represented so I went with a grey/black/blu/white undertone. The value proposition I was aiming to do was attract and promote GoPro’s new product. I added information about how it was the best piece of technology the company currently had to offer and put the promo code in the Ad to push viewers to complete an online purchases. Promo codes are great for this reason because it makes people want to receive a deal rather than waiting and thinking about it. The actions to call were potentially getting the consumer to press the buy now button once they read about all the items included, the products features, and the great discount being offered for a limited time. It is obvious that this is what the intent of the landing page is for. The demographic I am trying to appeal to is potentially anyone who enjoys using a camera or let alone adventure. A lot of memories are difficult to capture when performing activities and the GoPro allows them to share with friends and family. Luckily, my page is mobile friendly. This is most likely because I included basic fonts, and didn’t include a ton of image backgrounds that would take a while to load. I think this assignment should be included next semester because it gives students the opportunity to try building somewhat of a website and test out their design skills. I think colors and font are a huge part on marketing and whether or not it’ll attract the users eye. Consistency and professionalism is key.

1. What is the difference between web design and web development? Do you agree with the author of Purely Branded? Summarize at least three differences mentioned by the author. What does a web designer typically do? (You might want to refer to the following article: https://www.purelybranded.com/insights/web-design-or-web-development-whats-the-difference/ ).

The difference between web design and web development is web design revolves around the 5 design principles. These principles include: balance of the layout, contrasting of colors, emphasis of specific elements, consistency of design and the unity of the website as a whole. Web development is a, “non-interactive ‘picture’ of a website” (Purely Branded). The web development has to do with the internal side of a website. It’s the elements that actives links, and code to make the website function all together.

2. What does “upper fold” or “above the fold” mean? How does it affect readership?

“Upper fold” or “above the fold” on a website is the first thing that loads in the upper corner of the page. It is the part of the web page that is visible without the need to school so it needs to catch the readers attention. Without an eye-catching “upper fold” the reader may leave the site, thinking that it doesn’t have the information they are interested in. I can relate it to terms in writing like a hook. It needs to be interesting enough to make the reader want to learn more.

3. Read the following article on Mobile Friendly Test and summarize at least two points you recognize as a priority for mobile friendly web design.

Since a website wasn’t listed, I found this website as an article relating to the “Mobile Friendly Test”. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6352293?hl=en

Two points the article states is that the website needs to be reachable and should be able to load all resources. If not, the viewer is not going to get the full experience and reason the wrong impression of the site. This tool can help a business owner test their mobile sites to be working accurately. As google says “most site owners lose half their visitors while waiting for a website to load”.

4. Test the speed and performance of the site of one of your client’s closest competitors and attach a screenshot of your result to your blog post. Is your client’s site mobile friendly or not? https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/

My client’s closest competitor is “Gorham Yoga Company” because the offer the same classes and are only located right down the road in Gorham.

As for my client’s site, it did not want to load at all. I tried it on both my phone and computer. I am going to assume that its speed time and performance is lower than my competitors due to Google test even having a difficult time processing it. 

5. Perform a Google Mobile friendly test of the site of one of your client’s closest competitors and and attach a screenshot of your result to your blog post. Is your site mobile friendly or not?

Using my competitor and my client’s site again, I decided to test which one was more “Mobile Friendly”.

After performing the test, it looks like both sites are mobile friendly. However I did notice my competitor’s site was notified as not being able to open all resources. This could be an advantage to Holistic Pathways because if clients cannot reach all resources, they may turn somewhere else local.

6. You are asked to offer a short “critique” of a landing page that grabs your attention. As you browse the different landing page types at Adobe Spark (https://spark.adobe.com/gallery/), evaluate one of your favorite landing pages by referring to these questions:

The landing page I decided to do a short critique on was: https://spark.adobe.com/gallery/food/example/it’s-pau-hana-time/

I think I chose this site because it has food and drinks in the front image and just reminded me of a tropical vacation since it used the words “Pau Hana”. They chose to use the words “It’s Pau Hana time!” which made me feel like it was a happy celebration that I was interested about. Then they showed many pictures of the even and people having a good time. They made this landing page to spark other’s interest for the next time they do it. The demographic they are trying to appeal to is basically anyone who likes food and a good time. Specifically authentic BBQ. They show a lot of images of people smiling, the food being made and atmosphere at the event. It isn’t super obvious what they want visitors to convert, I am guessing it is so that they want to go to the event next time around. If I were them I would’ve added a link to their website so they could sign up to attend or create a raffle so they would participate and attend next year to see if they win.

1. What is the difference between CPC or CPM bidding? Explain which bidding strategy might be appropriate for your client? Why? You should refer to the client you identified in the first Assignment although Google might be able to pair you with a different non-profit (see my announcement message for Week 3).

The difference between CPC or CPM bidding is that CPC is the amount of revenue a business is willing to pay for each click on their ad. CPM is a bid amount that one’s business is willing to pay based on impressions. I think for my team’s client, the CPM might be more useful. My reasoning is because when thinking about exercising, yoga isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind for everyone. If our non-profit bid a set rate, they would be guaranteed to have people see there ad, and even though they may not click it, it will spark the idea in their head. Especially if the ad uses catchy words like “destress” or “detox your brain” they may think “hm maybe I should try yoga out”. Ideally you would hope the ad would target people in the area so that when they google “yoga studios near me” Holistic Pathways would come up as a top result.

There are 5 keyword match types. Please give an example of each match type. You should refer to the client you identified in the first Assignment although Google might be able to pair you with a different non-profit (see my announcement message for Week 3).

The five keyword match types are broad match, modified match, phrase match, or exact match. Broad match is when a user can search something and as long as it has one of your key words, your business or ad will appear. This will result in the most impressions. For my client, an example could be yoga, or studios. The term is very broad but the ad could definitely pop up as being somewhat relevant. Modified match is when two terms or keywords are linked together (with a plus sign in google ads) to tell google that these words always need to appear together. That way, searches are more accurate and narrow, but the ad is still getting many impressions. An example of this could be yoga studio. The consumer could also search “Studio of Yoga” and the ad would still appear under this keyword match type. Phrase match is when keywords have to be searched in the same order they were entered in when creating the ad. There may also be words in front of the linked keywords but the linked words never come out of order. An example of this could be “yoga studio near me” or even “best yoga studio”. The keywords “yoga” and studio” would need to stay in that order. I would think this would narrow down the targeted audience even more, leaving room for potential consumers. Exact match is when the exactly same keywords are searched. However Google did change this so that if a consumer searched plural or something abbreviated, they would still find what they were looking for. An example of this for my client would be “yoga studio in Gorham”, that way, the studio would always come up when locals searched for it.

What are some benefits of segmenting your data by “Top vs. Other”? Please refer to the Google Ads tutorial.

The benefits of segmenting your data by “Top Vs. Other” is that your ad is most likely to be selected first if it is at the topic. Humans first instinct is to click the first result because they think it will match their organic search. However, this is not always the case. If the keywords match up, it is possible your ad will be first on the page. Being in the “other” position means that the ad will not receive as many impressions because people seem to trust only the first few pages that occur on a Google search.

Evaluate the following two landing pages? Which landing page do you like better? Why? Can you suggest an improvement? 

These two landing pages are completely different because one is a login and one in a confirmation page. I like the background of the pages because it gives off the impression of the school and the campus life. I think this could intrigue and give off new students a feel of what it is like at USM. I also think that having the message “Thank You! We’ll be in touch soon” is nice to have so that the person doesn’t feel like they are left hanging without anyone assisting them. I think I like the second better for that reason. I think the first page (login) could definitely have a different look. Maybe something with more of the campus community. This could be our mascot, student, or a faculty picture. Since it is the page where potential students first visit, it should be intriguing and not under estimated. A great idea would be to include students at a campus event or something like that. I think showing that USM does have a great campus community is key because I know it is one of the reasons many students choose other schools.

The topics I chose to compare on Google Trends were “Winter” and “Spring”. My reason for choosing these two topics is because we are currently still in winter, yet I wanted to know if since spring is approaching, which was being searched more.

What I noticed when analyzing this graph were results I had already predicted. Spring was being search a lot more than winter in the last few months of the winter season. I am assuming this was built up and a result of the excitement in winter ending. However, during summer months, both seem to drop significantly. Then once December hits, winter skyrockets up to being very popular. I can assume this is from the holiday season and everyone wanting to be in the spirit. I did notice that the topic of winter stays relatively high through January. I am assuming this is because of the severe winter storms certain states have and the searches they make to be informed about the weather. When using my iPhone to search “winter”, my iPhone tells me the official dates of winter starting and end date. I notice that they dates fall relatively in that steady up and down streak in the graph above. Same with searching “spring” with my voice search. However, they start and end dates fall within the range of the peak. When I use a regular search engine search of the term “winter” or “spring” I received the winter start and end date specifically in the northern hemisphere and EST. This is because of my location services that are on in my settings for safari. Marketers can use this tactic because they can see in which parts of the world (such as hemisphere) that searches will be more popular than others. For example, this graph below really showed me in which parts of the world each season was more relevant in.

• Identify a client for your group project. Part 1 – a concise introduction of your client. Part 2 – List the web site (both the PC version and the mobile version) and the mobile app that you will critique/ evaluate Part 3 – Evaluate the web site and app based on the following criteria:

For my group project, we are focusing on the non-profit Holistic Pathways, yoga studio, in Gorham Maine. The studio offers classes of yoga online, on-site, and even workshops for the public. Amanda Kezal runs the business and my team has been contacting her via email.

Here is the website: https://www.holisticpathways.com

There is no mobile app for the website however the website itself has many different navigation keys. These include: Home, News Updates, About Us, Wellness Services, Class Schedule, Book Online, Yoga Live, Contact, FAQ, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The key navigation keys on the main page is the class schedule and book online. These two tabs make it easy for the consumer to join the yoga business because it is convenient and only one click away for them. The demographics for the primary target audience is relatively anyone. Age or gender doesn’t really come into play when it comes to Yoga because it is healing and relaxing for everyone. It is similar to working out. I think if you were to try to be specific, you could say that it is for middle aged parents if they are going through a lot of stress but typically anyone who encounters stress can find this as a safe haven. Ways that this website can increase traffic is by notifying their current clients about the opportunities the websites provide. If they get people to understand that they can now book class online, they may be more tempted to share with their friends because of how convenient it is. They also could clean up the bottom of the page. I found the font against the background picture was difficult to read. The relationship between the website traffic converts to revenue because the more people who visit the website, the more knowledgable they become about Holistic Pathways services and they may even book online. It is more exposure to business. For example, if this website is shared on Facebook, users may be interested and click on the link. This is also known as “referral traffic (e.g., an internet user clicks on a link to the site from another site),..” (Larson & Draper Chapter 1). As soon as they visit the website this source has everything they need to know about the business and may convince them to even participate. As far as changing anything on this current site, I would change the font color towards the bottom. I feel as though it isn’t clear to read. “What is important is not color but contrast. Use contrasting colors to direct attention where you think visitors should attend.” (Larson & Draper Chapter 2) The color against the photograph should be contrasting or they should just pick a solid background.

• Is the Google Trends analysis useful for the 2017 Presidential election? Why?

I would think the Google Trends analysis is useful for the 2017 election because not only can you see which candidate is the most popular, but you can see what specific events occurred or who stirred up the media. I do not believe that it determines who is the most popular, but I do think it indicates who is the most interesting in terms of themselves or they actions that have occurred around them running for president.

• What are the main difference between seasonal trends, star trends, and sustained trends? Identify a topic of your interest and report the categories of trends you could identify. You must attach a screenshot of your Google Trends chart to your discussion.

The main difference between season trends, star trends and sustained trends are seasonal trends tend to relate to the present day trend that occurs overtime and is predicted. For example, this could be the 2017 presidential election and the popularity between a certain candidate. Star trends are when something is trending very rapidly. This could be a celebrities death or something like that where people almost panic and begin searching information about them all over the web. A sustained trend could be something that is built up over time and almost always relevant. An example could be the weather forecast. It is constantly searched and checked up on.

1. Do you have a client in your mind? If so, what is the name of the client? Is it a nonprofit or small business? 

The client I have in mind is the Holistic Pathways, LLC. This is group for this non-profit was suggested by Rebecca Elliott and I became interested because I took a yoga course at USM last spring, and it really sparked my interest. I feel like the incorporation of meditation and exercise can ultimately benefit anyone, especially someone with stress issues.

2. Contact your client this week or the following week is required. Please refer to my sample email in the week 1 folder. Make sure you communicate the benefit of this challenge clearly. When did/will you contact your client? Are you going to meet with your client in person or through email?

Our team will be communicating with our client via email because Rebecca who knows the owner is deciding to communicate that way. She last contacted her Thursday and we are waiting on a response.  

3. Any question about the challenge? 

My only question as of now is if you are referring to our group project client, just as I listed above. I want to make sure this isn’t a separate project.

Google Ads

1. What is the difference between Google AdWords search, display networks, and Search Network with Display Select? Which approach will help you show ads on YouTube videos? Which campaign approach would you use if you were to reach people when they’re searching for help? 

Google AdWords search allows people to search through Google’s advertising networks to make sure you are targeting your ads towards the right audience. After overlooking the summary about Google Adwords, I realized it can provide an overview of your online marketing plan for a business. You can plan costs, specify your ads, and manage all of your campaigns from this one source. If your ad is not successful there is no cost and better yet you can choose as much money you want to invest. Google AdWords basically tracks how many people click your ads, which you can then study for future advertising. Search Network helps with show your ads on Youtube videos, google maps, and google searches. I think I would probably use the Search Network because most people generally search Google for any type of business/service they are looking for. For example, my mom owns a tanning salon, therefore we made sure that when people in the South Portland area searched tanning, her salon appeared on the Google Maps.

2. Will a lower bid be likely to increase or decrease the keyword’s average position, the number of impressions and clicks it receives? Why? 

A lower bid is likely to decrease the keyword’s average position. The lower bid also will require a more defined search which leads to less clicks and impressions. The key to success is investing more money into key words such as “tanning” versus investing in words like “salon” due to that term being so broad.

3. What do you need to know to measure return on investment (ROI) for an advertising campaign?

ROI ultimately means: Revenue- Cost of Goods Sold/ Cost of Goods Sold= ROI. Using ROI can help one measure the success of the profit made minus the actual investment put into the costs of goods. This can help one plan out future investments and their budget for future advertising.

4. When should you Change the ad delivery method from “Accelerated” to “Standard”? Why? 

One should change the ad delivery method from “Accelerated” to “Standard” once the business is well known and relevant. I also think one should change this to maintain their budget. For example, at the beginning one can invest a lot in their advertising, but once the business becomes steady they can invest a standard amount of their costs into advertising.

5. You were to run a very targeted campaign to reach people who are visiting Japan on vacation and don’t live in Japan. What would be an effective way to target this client’s customers? Which areas should you target? Which language should your ideal consumer speak?

I would use English as the way to communicate with to speak with your ideal consumer. I would then use topics such as “things to do in Japan” “things to do in Tokyo” or big cities in Japan that seem to be tourist attractions. I also think food is a huge part about visiting a country. I would conduct a research on some of the best hidden restaurants in the country.

How do advertisers benefit from using Negative keywords?

Using Negative keywords helps advertisers if they don’t want to be associated with another business’ similar service or product. It helps define and narrow down consumer’s search to lead exactly to their business versus a similar sounding one.

What’s THE PRIMARY benefit of creating multiple ad groups?

The benefit of creating a multiple ad group is so that your ad is more filtered and directs the consumers to your advertisement. It narrows down the audience of consumers who would be interested.

If you bid $2 for a click and the next highest bid is $1.10, how much will you pay? WHY? 

Necessarily, you won’t have to pay. The idea is to be paying more for the next highest bid so that a pay out isn’t required.

A standard Google Ads text ad is made up of three components. What are they?

The three standard Google Ads text ad is made up of display URL, headline for the ad, and a description. Specifically an eye catching interesting description.

Identify a Google Ads tip you found in the reading Google Ads fundamentals or the following learning resources and share it with us using Twitter.  Simply attach a Twitter screenshot to the Discussion forum. 

A tip Google Ads provided was “To drive brand awareness, use affinity audiences to reach TV-like audiences on a broad scale. To reach as many potential customers as possible with an affinity for a specific product area, you might try adding custom affinity audiences”. I found this to be super interesting how they related to view Google Ads similar to the same consumers who watch TV.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton