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Very good intro video on how you can use LinkedIn to get things done and grow your business.  Enjoy!

Posted under digital marketing

If there is a statement that will upset experienced Digital Marketers it is this, “Google AdWords are a Ripoff! We tried this once and didn’t get any business.” When we talk to these people we generally find they lack a clear understanding of how AdWords work and how they can use Pay Per Click advertising to generate revenue for their business.

Now, I do not believe that AdWords (aka Pay Per Click) is the correct tool for every business that wants to market online, but Google is certainly not trying to ripoff their customers.  What they are trying to do, however, is make a profit.

A Myth Dispelled

Almost seven years after Google changed the Pay Per Click auction model, some people still think winning at AdWords is all about bidding the highest cost per click. Many business owners shy away from pay per click advertising because they don’t understand how it works or don’t want to pay for the highest rankings.  The fact is, AdWords ads are positioned based on a variety of factors:

1. A good landing page - the page a user is directed to when they click on your ad.
2. A good click through rate - the number of people that click your ad.
3. A relevant advertisement - Google’s bread and butter!

Your bid is only one of many important factors. Your position is determined more by the relevance of your ad to the keyword search and by the click through rate the ad receives than by your bid. This is because Google makes more money the more your ad is clicked!

Show Me the Money

For example, let’s assume I own a store that sells used golf clubs and I am paying $1 per click for the keyword phrase “used golf clubs”.  The myth many people believe is that a competitor can pay $2 for the same phrase and be ranked much higher.  This is just not true.

If my ad generates 50 clicks a day versus 20 clicks for my competitor (because my ad is more relevant and my landing page is properly optimized) I will be ranked much higher. Why?  Two reasons.  Because Google deems my ad more relevant to the users search and thus more beneficial for them.  Second, because I made more money for Google! My 50 clicks for a dollar each earned Google $50.  My competitors 20 clicks at $2 only generated $40 for Google. I win.

And you can win too!  Google AdWords can be extremely profitable for your business, but there is much more to the process than choosing keywords and determining your bids. If you are serious about growing your revenues via the Internet then be sure to reach out to a qualified professional for help.

Please comment on this blog or email me at stephen@jngstech.com if you have any questions concerning your company’s technical needs.  Hope this tip finds you well.  Have a fantastic day!

Posted under Make Money!

Great video explaining Twitter.  Enjoy!

Posted under digital marketing

I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Businesses in the US are hurting and the economy is experiencing a bad spell the likes of which we have not seen in a long time. So, the obvious question for business owners is “What can we do to recession proof our business?”. While this is a complicated question with no sure answer, there are definitely steps you can take to ensure survival during these tough times.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Most business owners are very familiar with the traditional steps needed to keep the revenue stream steady while driving more business through the door. There are very specific things that are done to advertise and establish a brand in the real world which include: creating printed materials like business cards and brochures, purchasing advertisement space on television, radio and billboards, and hiring staff to perform sales calls and setup sales meetings. These are very true and proven methods of marketing and that’s fine and dandy, but should you still be investing the same amounts in these things to keep your eggs in one basket? The answer is no.

In a world where digital technology and digital advertising is everywhere from your home computer to electronic coupons at the grocery store; the question you should be asking yourself is “How does my business stack up within the digital landscape?”. Digital marketing is a must for companies who expect to weather the growing financial storm.

Top Analysts Rank Search Engine Marketing in Top 3 out of 10 Ways to Generate High Quality Leads

It’s true; people would rather use a search engine when looking for goods and services. Not only are Internet based Ads and Websites a “greener” approach to marketing due to the lack of ink and paper that magazines and postcards require, but consumers of all types find it easier to shop and compare when using Internet Search Engines like Google and Yahoo. On top of this a Digital Marketing Strategy can save your business thousands of dollars. We all win.

Things you need to do to stay competitive:

1. Get an Attractive User-Friendly Website
2. Get Your Website Listed with Google (this is a necessity..compare the stocks of Google(GOOG) versus a top competitor like Yahoo(YHOO) http://www.nyse.com/)
3. Drive High Quality Leads to your Website through precisely targeted Pay Per Click Ads
4. Consider Blogs, Newsletters, and Email Marketing
5. Close your Sales and Stay Competitive!

Contact me at justin@jngstech.com for more information!

Or visit us on the web: http://www.jngstech.com

Posted under digital marketing

I have fielded many questions in the past few months by clients, prospects, and the business community in general about cutting costs in their business, specifically IT costs. As a business owner myself I fully understand this.  The one thing we must keep in mind is being careful not to cut muscle while in the process of trimming the fat. So how do we know what is fat versus muscle? 

The key is “The Line”  (thank you Kent Erickson! http://www.pointivity.com)

Draw a line on a piece of paper.  Now think of all of the systems, applications, etc you use in your business.  If it is strategic to your business write it above the line.  If not, put the item below the line. 

Once you identify what is below the line do everything you can to drive down costs and focus on efficiencies (within reason and without hurting your business!)  Typically items in this category include things such as IT support, hardware costs, routers, switches, etc.  While these items are essential to your business they are not strategic (more to come on this topic in a future post).

Once you identify the items that are above the line you know what is strategic to your business.  Continue to invest, improve, and expand on these items as they help fuel growth, value, and competitive advantage.  Items such as Digital Marketing, CRM Systems, Line of Business Applications, and Data Mining fall into this category. 

The final step is to reallocate funds that may be budgeted for items that are not strategic to your business.  By taking these funds and investing them into Digital Marketing, for instance, you should see a far greater return than if you had invested them elsewhere.  For more information feel free to post a comment or email me at stephen@jngstech.com. 

Posted under Save Money

In tough economic times every business owner is keeping their eyes and ears open in hopes of finding better and more efficient ways to conduct business and drive up revenues. One place that few businesses are cutting back on is marketing, and for good reason. A business needs effective and consistent marketing no matter what economic climate exists, just look around and you will notice very few have cut back marketing by dramatic and noticeable amounts. While it may not be smart to cut back or eliminate marketing, I think we can all agree that smarter, cheaper, greener and more efficient never hurt anybody! Digital Marketing is a great way to advertise, attract and retain new and existing clients, but what should you look for?

Here’s a few of my thoughts on that question:

• Metrics..does the Digital Marketing company you are looking into offer proof that your investment is paying off? There is little reason behind dumping your money into an investment that remains “virtual”. Make sure that you are seeing results on a regular basis, monthly reports should be a requirement. The proof is in the pudding!
• Flexibility..one of Digital Marketing’s great strengths lies in its flexibility. Traditional marketing relies heavily on consistency, and that’s a good thing, but you can’t fix a typo or color flaw on 5000 postcard mailers without some pain and money loss. Digital Marketing should give you the ability to change your strategy at the drop of a dime….without spending one! This brings me to my next point…
• Flat-Fee Pricing..Flat-Fee pricing is the way that smart businesses will price and pay for services now and into the future. Be secure, know what you’re getting for how much, you deserve it! Death to the hidden costs!

Consider these points a good place to start when looking to invest in Digital Marketing. Check back often for more thoughts!

Visit our website at www.jenningstechnologies.com.

Posted under digital marketing

While we have already covered the green benefits of digital marketing on this blog, it is also easier on your company’s bank account as well. In this blog, I will go over how digital marketing can save you money and offers additional benefits over traditional marketing.

So just how does Digital Marketing save you money? First, it takes away some of the costs that occur getting your message to your customer. Think of the cost of doing a direct mailer to your customer vs. an email. A direct mailer has both printing and shipping costs while an email is free. This makes the Digital Marketing scalable as well. If you decide to go larger with your campaign, you do not have to worry about getting more mailers printed up or budgeting for them; it’s the same cost for 1 as it is for 10,000.

There is also the efficiency of Digital Marketing. Whereas a storefront and sales force usually only work during business hours, about sixty hours a week, a digital campaign can be working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. A potential customer can go on your website any day or night and request additional information from your company. If you sell products online, you could even be making sales while you sleep, the traffic being driven to your site by a well-crafted online campaign.

With online advertising methods such as pay per click and digital banners, you really can control the audience you want to reach. You can target people searching for certain keywords in certain parts of the country during a specific timeframe during the day. This comes in really handy if you are trying to reach a niche market. But if you are going for a larger market and want to take your campaign nationwide, it’s the same cost to market to someone in Boston as it is Los Angeles.

Most importantly, Digital Marketing allows for every aspect of your digital campaign to be measured. You can track how many people click on your links in an email blast or what pay-per-click ads are converting into sales on your site. Your potential customer is tracked from first impression all the way until the sale or contact is made. And since digital media is easily altered, you can make changes based upon the collected metrics until your message and sales flow are perfected. Instead of having to get a brochure reprinted, you are simply rewriting some content in a digital document. Finally, when it’s time to justify the cost of your digital marketing campaign, you have a definite ROI based upon those solid metrics.

For more information on our Kinetic Digital Marketing and what it can do for your business, please feel free to check out http://www.jenningstechnologies.com/digitalmarketing.asp.

Posted under Save Money

So I was doing the dishes, yes us extraordinarily handsome web marketeers do occasionally partake in manual labor…hard to believe I know. Anyway I got to thinking about how cool I am for saving all of the little plastic containers that my takeout Chinese food comes in so I can reuse them for things like storing tuna fish for 3 weeks in the fridge..before my wife eventually throws out the tuna and re-washes the container. I was thinking about how I am doing a small thing to make this world a little more green, and while I am proud of my eco-friendly tendencies I can’t say that I am perfect, as no one is, but the little things add up. Enough rambling…read on.

I realized in my moment of Zen that by partaking in Digital forms of marketing, companies and individuals are actually doing a great deal to help the environment. Think about all of the paper you can save by moving your traditional postcard mailers to email blasts. Think about all of the non-renewable resources you are preserving when you choose to record a digital commercial and have it sent out to millions via the internet as opposed to traditional “tape” and broadcast methods. Yes my friends you can feel eco smart and business smart when you see your ROI shoot through the roof by using things like blogs, email, websites, flash presentations, webinars and more “renewable” forms of marketing to communicate your products! Traditional marketing is going to stick around for a while, but everyone can do their part by moving one or two methods to digital.

No more stuck in ink magazine ads! No more carved in stone billboard advertisements! No more money wasted on postcard mailers! VIVA The GREEN Revolution!

See more at: http://www.jenningstechnologies.com/digitalMarketing.asp

Posted under Green Revolution

For every business, saving money should always be a priority. While it may be thrilling to watch revenue rise, there is usually large amounts of untapped money already in your business; it is just locked in inefficient processes and outdated systems.

Information technology presents many options to easily and consistently save you money month after month. Over the next few weeks, I will be detailing four ways that directly impact your business’s bottom line by keeping costs down. These are:

1. Switching over from traditional marketing tactics to digital – The web can give your businesses an opportunity to market your goods and services to a world-wide audience for a fraction of what traditional marketing costs.
2. Streamlining current business processes - With so many tools available, you can take some of the more time-consuming procedures in your business and turn them into efficient practices.
3. Managed Services – Why waste time maintaining your own IT infrastructure? For just a small portion of the cost of having an internal IT staff, you can have an external company manage your network, keeping it efficient and trouble free.
4. External hosting and virtualization – Technology and hardware are in a constant state of change. Why not let an outside company worry about keeping up with updates and security while you work on running your business?

Posted under Save Money

Make Money Online. It’s that simple. Everyone wants to know what the best way to make money online is. While there is no simple answer to this question there are a few things you as a business owner can ask yourself before you take the plunge.

Posted under Make Money!