mobile marketing

Your Complete Guide To Mobile Website Optimization

Did you notice that I redesigned my blog just a few months ago? In addition to an overall facelift, I wanted to take a mobile-first, responsive design approach. So far, the results of my redesign are great, both from a quantitative/data perspective and a qualitative one too. I hope you noticed and like it too!

Mobile design and optimization are top-of-mind for PPC Ian in everything I do. Whether we’re talking about websites, landing pages, or even marketing creative, it’s all about mobile. When it comes to mobile marketing and mobile design, I’m always learning by testing, sharing strategies with others in the industry, and reading great whitepapers.

I am absolutely thrilled to share with you a free guide from my good friends at 3Q Digital (yes, the amazing agency that just hosted their Digital Marketing Summit at Levi’s Stadium). Today, I’m going to review 3Q Digital’s Mobile Optimization: Reflect User Intent In Site Design.

The guide starts out with some staggering statistics, ones that speak volumes about the mobile opportunity:

U.S. adults averaged 2.8 hours per day on their mobile devices in 2014
Mobile advertising spend is up 34% year over year (outstripping desktop growth)
At the end of 2014, 2.1 billion people owned smartphones

Next, 3Q’s guide transitions into four mobile mistakes. Each mistake contains great detail and great examples of companies making the mistakes, and also those gracefully avoiding the mistakes. 3Q is careful to not only illustrate the mistakes in great detail (with screenshots and analysis), but also solutions with equally clear examples and insights. The guide will help you visualize your own strategy, avoid these mistakes, and turn industry mistakes into opportunities for your business.

My favorite mistake would be Mobile Mistake #3: Not reflecting user device mentality in funnel position. This one really resonated with me because the mobile-first approach is not just about optimizing your homepage. It’s about optimizing every single possible mobile experience with your brand, both on-site and off. These days, the best marketers are segmenting their consumers to a very granular level, a level where it’s almost like one-to-one marketing. Every single personalized experience needs to have a mobile-first approach.

I was especially impressed that Craig Weinberg, VP of Mobile Strategy at 3Q Digital co-authored this whitepaper with Dylan Dullea from Method Hill. Craig just spoke at the 3Q Digital Summit. In fact, you will find knowledge from Craig and team in my Insights From The 3Q Digital Growth Summit.

I highly recommend downloading 3Q Digital’s Mobile Optimization Guide. It’s free and packed with knowledge that is sure to transform your own mobile strategy. Thanks 3Q for another amazing guide!

Image in this post © 3Q Digital

An App A Week

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 11 0

There’s a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and YouTube phenomenon named Tai Lopez. Have you heard of him? If you watch YouTube, I’m sure you have seen at least one of his pre-roll video advertisements. He’s in his garage with his Ferrari and also a multitude of books and bookcases. Tai encourages his listeners to expand their horizons by reading a book a day. He argues that reading brings knowledge and knowledge drives power. As someone who doesn’t read as much as he should (I spend my free time writing), Tai’s message struck home with me. He encouraged me to elevate my reading game, although I’m going to shoot for a book per week instead of per day. Thanks for the motivation, Tai!

Today, I want to do my version of Tai’s message, specifically for digital marketing professionals. I want to encourage everyone reading to install and explore at least one new app every single week. Mobile is at the forefront of everything we do. The better you understand the latest in mobile apps, the quicker you will grow.

In my opinion, the best employees are those that spend some time learning and experimenting during their off-hours. Look how competitive the advertising landscape has become these days. Even with budgets in the millions, you have to be one of the best marketers around to really win the game. It’s even more difficult being competitive when you’re on your own, have next to zero budget, and have no team. The scrappy moonlighter is forced to come up with the most innovative ideas ever, and this is precisely why you always need to be learning in your off-hours. This is when you will generate some of your best ideas, and make some of your greatest advances forward.

In your quest to learn a new app each week, I’m not talking about video games! I’m talking about real apps, those that can add value to your business or expand your horizons as a marketer and technologist. Pick popular apps and new apps. Pick social media apps and productivity apps. Even if you feel like you’re the last person on earth to try an app and you’re embarrassed you waited so long, just go for it! (I was in this very situation with the app I just installed, Instagram.)

Don’t just install the app, but spend some serious time engaging and learning the app. Do your best to maximize the app, treating your personal account as if you are running a business. (Hopefully you are running a business. As long as your side business does not take away from your job and as long as you don’t spend too much time on it each week, the lessons you learn will truly propel your full-time employer and corporate career.)

This past week, I’m thrilled to say that I finally got on Instagram. While it’s honestly a little embarrassing to admit I waited so long, I’m also trying to illustrate a point here. While I probably should have learned Instagram a long time ago, better late than never. It’s not about where I was yesterday, but where I am today. I’m always learning. Just like reading a new book, learning a new app is an empowering and powerful experience.

Please make sure to connect with me on Instagram, and check out my photos. As you can see, I didn’t just install the app and forget it. I’m taking Instagram seriously and trying to maximize and learn everything I can about the platform. While I don’t expect every app I install to be so much fun, I found that Instagram is one of the most addictive social media platforms in existence. I also found that the community on Instagram is so willing to support one another.

What have I learned on Instagram in my first week? A whole lot. In fact, when my good friends at Acquisio offered me an opportunity to guest post, I decided to write an Instagram guide for newcomers, like myself. I highly recommend reading on and checking out my guide on How To Get Started On Instagram. Thanks, Acquisio, for the opportunity! (For those that don’t know, Acquisio is one of the most powerful performance marketing platforms around. They also happen to have a stellar blog, and I’m lucky to guest post from time-to-time.)

Image of Acquisio Blog © Acquisio

What’s Your Mobile PPC Strategy?

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Aug 5 0

Do you advertise on mobile smartphones and tablets? Mobile search marketing is absolutely taking off. If you’ve tapped out the easy opportunities on desktop search, you absolutely must take a look at mobile. Even if you haven’t exhausted desktop search, you’ll want to look at mobile as part of your overall strategy. Today, I wanted to take a step back and provide a high level framework to think through mobile search marketing. I hope this framework helps in formulating (or refining) your own mobile strategy.

Start With Google AdWords, But Don’t Forget AdCenter

As with desktop search, you’ll get the most leverage with Google AdWords. That said, Microsoft adCenter provides great mobile search marketing opportunities as well. Just like Google AdWords, adCenter allows you to create separate campaigns for tablets and smartphones. They even allow you to segment by device. The key message here: adCenter has been innovating and you’ll be amazed what you find! Make sure your mobile strategy covers all search engines.

Create Separate Campaigns For Tablets & Smartphones

Mobile search is quite a bit different than desktop search. We’re talking about different conversion rates, different CPCs, different bid landscapes, and different strategies. I highly recommend managing your mobile campaigns separately. Specifically, you will want to segment out unique campaigns for desktop, tablets, and mobile smartphones. Sure, this creates more overhead and complexity, but it also gives you the precision needed to really dial in your campaigns. Remember to go granular. Just because mobile is a smaller percentage of your ad spend now, it will one day surpass desktop search. Set up the proper infrastructure now for long-term scale and success.

Think Through Your Mobile Customer Experience

Mobile Smartphone Ads

Most likely, your tablet experience will be similar to your desktop experience. Tablets are incredibly powerful and offer large screens. Think through your tablet experience. If you’re thinking of doing something different than your desktop experience (especially a really simplified mobile smartphone-like experience), definitely make sure to test. You may be surprised at what the conversion rates tell you when you offer something too simplified. Bonus tip: Understand how your site views tablets. Does your website bucket them into the “mobile” bucket? If so, you may be incorrectly sending tablet traffic to the smartphone site. Make sure to QA for both iPads and also Android tablets. Both should go to the intended tablet site.

Now, when it comes to mobile smartphones, you will have a more difficult decision. First and foremost, I recommend developing a mobile smartphone site. Most likely, your mobile site will be different than your desktop site. No matter how simple your business, desktop experiences just don’t work on small mobile smartphone screens. Even if you don’t opt to send paid traffic to your mobile smartphone site, you will need it to capture organic and direct traffic. Bonus tip: Consider testing mobile smartphone landing pages. Landing page testing is a great way to improve conversion rate, on both desktop and mobile experiences.

After your mobile smartphone site has been developed, you now will want to start testing paid traffic from AdWords (and adCenter). If you have a long conversion funnel and a strong call center, you’ll also want to consider mobile click-to-call. Click-to-call is the perfect way to leverage your call center while bypassing your mobile smartphone site if you don’t have one or if it performs at too high of a CPA for paid search to effectively work. Alternately, you could send traffic to your mobile site, but also display your phone number in a sitelink. Users on mobile smartphones are on phones. Offering/highlighting the opportunity to call is a great way to convert new customers.

I’ve been thinking about mobile a lot lately. Mobile tablet and smartphone advertising marks an important shift in our industry (perhaps the largest since AdWords was invented). What’s your mobile PPC strategy?