PixelMEDIA Inc.

I am going back to the basics with this entry and discussing how to write text ads that will garner clicks. Too often I see ineffective ad copy that leads to low click-thru-rates (CTRs). I will share why it is necessary to include your targeted keywords in your ad copy and techniques to make your ads stand out.

First and foremost, when you write ads “one size fits all” does not apply. Why not? Let’s take a look at this example. When I search for “Panasonic televisions” I see these ads.

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In mid-July, two hockey sticks showed up on the desk of designer Onur Orhon. These weren’t the ordinary sticks you’d see at a sporting goods store: they were prototypes straight from the headquarters of Bauer Hockey, of the updated One95 stick and the brand-new Vapor X:60. All the hockey fans at PixelMEDIA crowded around and hefted the sticks, inspecting the technical innovations and admiring their lighter weight.

The sticks stayed in the office through the fall, as the PixelMEDIA team worked to bring them online. Bauer Hockey hired PixelMEDIA to tackle the MY BAUER project, a rich Flash application where players can purchase and personalize Bauer’s top-of-the-line sticks. From choosing a pattern, grip, and color to printing a player’s name right on the stick, MY BAUER walks users through their choices and gives a three-dimensional preview of their purchase. Read More…

Last month, our Director of Engineering landed a few Google Wave invites and shared them with the team.  When I started playing with mine, I wasn’t even interested in talking with other people: I wanted to start playing with bots.  Google Wave is a terrific environment for bots and other automated tools, and with Google, they’re easy to code and deploy.

“Bot” is a term for any piece of software that can run tasks on the Internet.  Chatbots or chatterbots can carry on simple conversations or relay information to you; spyware bots can hack into your computer and plague your hard drive.  Used properly and legally, bots are convenient and helpful devices that can look up or process information for you.  Or they can just tell bad jokes. Read More…

We recently moved into a beautiful new LEEDS certified office space. One problem we quickly discovered – steel beam construction and high efficiency walls wreak havoc on our cell phone reception. Adding to this challenge is the fact that we are also located on the bottom floor of a three story building, so cell phone coverage in most of the inner office space was non-existent. This caused the obvious cell problems for staff – specifically the IT and support teams, whom provide 24×7 on-call support services for our vast client base.

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In my experience managing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, a frequently overlooked topic is the landing page.  Once your users click your ad, where are they going to go?  Setting up a structurally sound campaign is imperative, but it is only half the equation.  The user needs to land on a page that continues the messaging and call to action that is used in the ad.

Several factors go into creating a good landing page, none of which should be ignored.  These techniques will determine how many of your clicks turn into conversions.  Conversion rate, as I have previously written about, is a tier one success indicator of how well your campaign is doing.  Give your users an effective landing page, and you should see your conversion rates increase.

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