A company called PaperG has two new services – Flyerboard and PlaceLocal – to let advertisers and publishers automatically generate online ads and flyers and place them online.

Flyerboard is a virtual bulletin board that contains clickable flyers. Upon clicking, the flyer is expanded and more detailed copy is revealed (if it exists). The company claims a click-through rate (CTR) of up to three times higher than traditional banner ads.

Create your flyer using any existing image without having to fiddle with file size, pixel, or format specs. Your flyer will automatically include email sharing, integration to social media and a local built-in map.

You will get real-time impression and click stats for your Flyerboard ad. See what the virtual bulletin board looks like in an actual website.

PlaceLocal automatically builds your custom rich-media online display ad by scraping information, reviews, logos, awards and photos that are relevant to your product, service or company from the web. It’s as simple as entering your business name and location. In seconds, you see the display ad it creates for you.

Your ad includes a map and a way for viewers to refer friends to the ad. You can easily edit your ad once it is ready. If the business doesn’t have a website, PlaceLocal will automatically generate one.

In all, these are two great services to help local businesses advertise online and help publishers such as newspapers and TV stations provide an online advertising service for their local business clients.

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Banner ads have become less effective than text links over the past several years.

Chalk it up to banner blindness and banner burnout.

People visiting websites have become ‘trained’ to bypass banner ads. Some advertisers tried making their banner ads harder to ignore by adding movement or flashing. This seems to have made website visitors even more motivated to turn a blind eye.

Most website visitors look at sites in an F-shaped pattern.

In other words, they scan the masthead (the top of the F) and then go down and across the page where the content normally appears. (the stem and limb of the F)

Heatmaps from eyetracking studies show that the eye is drawn to areas on the web page that are not populated by ads. Website visitors seeking quick information do not allow themselves to be distracted by banner ads. Website visitors engrossed in reading an article are averse to looking away from it.

The heatmaps also demonstrate how website visitors ignore page elements that look like ads, even if they are not!

To combat banner blindness, make your ad look more like a component of the web page content and make sure the message is relevant to the information or subject that the website visitor sought.

Banner burnout is another issue to be wary about.

A study conducted by DoubleClick revealed that after four impressions banner ad click-through rates (CTR) drop from an average of 2.7% to less than 1%.

To combat banner burnout, prepare several ads and rotate them frequently.

By spending a little extra time on combating banner blindness and burnout, you should see better click-through rates – and a better return on investment.

More tips for better-performing banner ads

credits:
Image Space Media
useit.com

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If you’re like most Internet advertisers, you put a lot of thought into your keyword list, but what about your negative keyword list?

Negative keywords are essential to an effective keyword list. Including negative keywords in your ad group means that your ads won’t appear for search queries with those words.

After all, why waste your ad budget on unqualified traffic?

Filtering out these undesirable impressions let you reach the most relevant prospective customers, therefore reducing your cost-per-click (CPC), and increasing your ROI.

To add negative keywords, just put a minus sign (-) before each word or phrase.

How to find negative keywords for your list

1. Put your positive keyword in a Google search. Then study the search results for words that don’t apply to your product or service. For example, if you sell computers and use the word ‘computer’, you may see results for ‘computer classes’. You would make ‘classes’ a negative keyword.

2. Visit the competition’s sites. If you only sell desktop computers and your competitor sells laptop computers, make ‘laptop’ a negative keyword.

3. Make use of the Google Keyword Tool. Check the ‘use synonyms’ box. Turn any of those words that don’t apply into negative keywords.

One example of a negative keyword list.

Sometimes thinking negatively can have positive results!

credits:
adwords.google.com
clixmarketing.com
engineready.com

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Groupon is a popular new website that sends subscribers in each city a daily e-mail that contains one heavily discounted bargain from a local business.

Launched in 2008, Groupon has more than 3.7 million subscribers who receive their daily e-mail offers. More than 3,000 businesses have signed on to offer these deals.

Groupon works a lot differently than just sending out your own coupons or putting your coupon in the newspaper.

1. Your business doesn’t send Groupon a dime. If Groupon subscribers want an offer, they must pay for it in advance on Groupon’s website. Groupon then takes a cut of this payment, typically 50% – and you get the other 50%.

2. The offer isn’t valid unless a predetermined number of coupons are sold in a 24-hour period. In addition to email, Groupon also uses social media like Twitter and Facebook to get the word out about your offer.

Businesses that have used Groupon have reported a very large influx of business, not only on the day of the offer, but with repeat business from Groupon offer redeemers who then come back.

Here is an example of a Groupon offer that ran in Tampa.

It shows you the deal, the discount, the savings, the time left to buy and how many people have bought it. It lists highlights of the offer and shows a photo of the business.

Groupon also writes a description of your business.

Some tips for using Groupon successfully and preventing the experience from becoming too costly or overwhelming.

Do the math. It’s typical for businesses to offer discounts of 50 percent or more to Groupon customers. Then Groupon takes about half of what you make from the offer. Can you afford to sell a product or service at this discount? (It can be worth it to get new customers to try out your business.)

Set a limit. You may want to specify the maximum number of coupons you want to sell. Your Groupon offer may lead to more business than you can handle.

Be careful about including your phone number. If you give a phone number in your Groupon offer, you may be swamped with phone calls. You might want to use an online reservation system instead.

Use sparingly. Offering coupons too often can cause customers to shop only when they have one.

Groupon has some informative videos about how your business can get more customers.

As of this writing, Groupon is in these cities

Albuquerque Atlanta Austin Baltimore Boston Charlotte Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dallas Denver Detroit Fort Worth Fresno Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas LA LA-Inland LA-Orange County Louisville Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis / St Paul Nashville New York New Orleans Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland Providence Raleigh/Durham Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco / East Bay San Jose Seattle Sioux Falls St. Louis Tacoma Tampa Toronto Tucson Virginia Beach/Norfolk Washington DC Washington DC- NoVa Washington DC- Montgomery County

credits:
inc.com
groupon.com

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It’s time for your business to tap into the power of mobile marketing, a discipline that is rapidly gaining in popularity and acceptance.

Businesses using mobile coupons have reported much better results than sending coupons by direct mail or by flyers in the Sunday paper.

Here are some mobile coupon apps that make the process fast and easy. Some are free, and some require a sign-up or monthly fee.

Yowza
725,000 users
Around $50/month per business location

Coupon Sherpa
80,000 users
Free

mobiQpons
100,000 users
$50 sign up, $25/month per business location

Money Mailer
Reaches as many customers as you sign up
$25-$75/mailing zone of 10,000 homes

foursquare
400,000 users
Free for now, plans to eventually charge for the service

iLoop Mobile
Reach as many customers as you sign up
$1,500 and up for one campaign, or $2,500/month for ongoing campaigns

For more details, see the slideshow from inc.com, Six Services To Help You With Mobile Marketing

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Foursquare has attracted more than 400,000 users in less than a year. It’s time for your business to jump on this bandwagon.

Foursquare can help your business promote deals, get new customers and increase loyalty and patronage among your existing customers.

Foursquare lets users check in at retail stores, restaurants, bars and other places when they arrive, then find recommendations for what to do while there and the surrounding neighborhood. When a user checks in at a nearby business, they will be alerted to your special offer, too.

Foursquare users publicly share recommendations of the businesses they visit. Foursquare uses this data to recommend local businesses based on targeted geolocation.

Businesses can link a discount to a check-in listing and reward users who check in repeatedly by giving points and titles such as ‘mayor’ and ‘deputy mayor.’

Your “mayor” is a regular customer whose loyalty you’ll want to keep. You can see who that person is on the Foursquare site. Businesses often offer VIP perks to their mayor, from a discount to a free beer.

Other businesses promote mayor’s specials. Anything goes – show your mayor that he or she matters to you in a way that reflects the personality of your business.

Read more in the informative article, How to Make Money on Foursquare from inc.com

See a list of businesses currently offering promotions on Foursquare’s webpage for businesses

Foursquare is available in these cities:

North America: US: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City (MO), Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New Haven, New York City, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orlando, Park City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Tucson, Washington D.C. Canada: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver. Mexico: Mexico City

Europe: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Birmingham (UK), Bristol, Brighton, Brussels, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Helsinki, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Reykjavik, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna, Zurich

South America: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo

Africa: Johannesburg

Middle East: Dubai, Tel Aviv

Asia: Beijing, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo

Australia: Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney

New Zealand: Wellington

A link for updates on Foursquare’s city list or to request that your city is added.

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There are websites like Odesk.com and Elance.com where writers and designers looking for work can find such juicy assignments as:

“Article writer needed. The budget of $50 is for 50 articles”

and

“We have about 62 photos of a product that we need to crop, then retouched and placed on a white background. The budget is $25.”

Now I know that these sites often attract writers and designers from countries like Sri Lanka and The Philippines where this ain’t bad money.

But what mystifies me is that these sites also attract writers and designers from the U.S.! I mean, come on, even the minimum wage in the U.S. is now $7.25/hour. Who works for this kind of money?

Contrast that to a recent article in Crain’s New York. The headline states that “Top NY advertising creatives charge $750 per hour.”

The oDesk writer would have to write 750 articles per hour to rake in that kind of cash. Or about 12 articles per minute.

I guess it’s the classic story of the haves and the have-nots.

Have something to add? Have at it.

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Here’s how crowdsourcing works: you post your assignment on a crowdsourcing site. It draws dozens of submissions. The winner receives a nominal fee (as little as $200), and you receive a logo or website design at a fraction of what a professional agency might charge.

The losers get nothing, which explains why working on spec has always been considered the last resort for writers, designers and other creatives.

Find some crowdsourcing links in the crowdsourcing article from Wired Magazine.

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There are some good ad agencies in Tampa. I have worked and freelanced for some of them during my 29 years in the city.

If you are an advertiser, I can lend my advice on selecting one. If you have small projects, I can handle them myself.

And if you are an advertising agency in Tampa, I can refer larger clients to you. In this new social media age, it’s all about sharing, helping and referring!

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TalentZoo is the number one job site for advertising, marketing and media professionals. It is also a good source for articles, news and information about the ad biz. Check it out here

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