VIA Studio staff & friends as the Destination Wedding. Photo by Jacob Zimmer for the Courier Journal

As always, VIA Studio was happy to support Actors Theatre of Louisville‘s annual Lobster Feast fundraiser. This year’s theme was “Escape to Key West”, and the VIA team came as the “Destination Wedding”.

Needless to say the evening was a blast, and we got tons of compliments, and more than a few confused attendees. At least one person thought we had come to Lobster Feast directly from a wedding.

You can view more pictures of the evening here.

See you next year!

~jason

Image courtesy of: paidcontent.org

Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be tough. There are many moving parts to an account like keywords, ad copy and network settings –  it can be difficult to keep everything in good order.

Despite the complexity, a PPC account  like Google AdWords or Microsoft AdCenter should have one overarching goal: to increase relevant conversions on a website. Your PPC account should improve the number of transactions, leads, or sales on your website. One of the best ways to improve conversions is with conversion-focused ad copy. Here are 5 ways to do that:

1) Qualify Traffic with Headlines

After you establish a decent click thru rate or CTR (1.0% or better), start looking to qualify your traffic with a better headline. You want a headline that speaks directly to the person who will convert on your website. For instance, if you’re trying to get leads for a niche cruise ship to Alaska, you could try these headlines:

A Unique Alaskan Cruise

OR

Yacht Cruise To Alaska

These examples talk to people looking for a different experience on their Alaskan cruise, not to the first-timers looking for the cheapest cabins. Avoid generic headlines like “Alaska Cruise Specials”. That headline won’t help qualify your website traffic and will bring fewer conversions for your niche offering.

 2) Use Benefit-Focused Descriptions

What are the reasons your prospects buy from you?

Highlight those elements in your top description line. There are two description lines in AdWords, both allowing for 35 characters. However, you’ll need your 2^nd description line for a call to action. That doesn’t leave a lot of space to showcase the benefits of your product. Going back to the example of the niche cruise ship, try this:

Luxury cruise by glaciers, wildlife.

OR

5-Star dining & ship excursions.

In this instance, appealing to the lowest-common traveler won’t do. The goal is to speak to your best prospects. Using qualifying headlines and specific benefits will further cement positive feelings toward your offering before the click. That’s the visitor you want on your website – and that’s the visitor more likely to convert.

3) Implement Call To Action

The previous lines in your PPC ad qualify your traffic and further explain your offering. However, the last line should almost always be used for a “call to action” – your desired response from prospects. Don’t be shy. Tell prospects what to do:

Download colorful brochure now!

OR

Get brochure and $500 discount!

This final description line should focus on the next step in your buying cycle. Avoid using more generic language – or even benefits for this line. CTR and conversion rates will suffer when you don’t tell prospects what to do.

4) Split-Test Ads For Optimal Conversion Rates

The fact is, nobody knows which ads will do well and which ones will falter. That’s why we split test. Compose 2-3 ads in the account. Next, setup your campaign to rotate ads evenly to ensure a fair split test. You can do that under the Campaign Settings Tab > Advanced Settings. Select the Rotate ads feature.

Let things run. Allow for enough clicks (100+) to get statistical relevance and pause the lower conversion rate ads while keeping the winning ads. Repeat the process until your CTR and conversion rates are acceptable.

5) Implement Best Practices on Image/Display Ads

One of the goals of text ads in PPC is to find good ad copy for your image and display ads. After you find that perfect combination of headlines, description, call to action, and conversion rate, roll-out the winning ads to new networks.

If you’re bidding on the Display Network in Google AdWords or buying banner ads, use the best ad copy for those creatives. This helps to spread your successful ads throughout the internet and improves overall conversions in your PPC efforts.

We didn’t black out our websites today, but we did want to show our solidarity with the STOP SOPA movements today on the interwebs.

If you’ve been living under a rock today and haven’t seen the Google or Wikipedia pages, the video below provides a brief synopsis of PROTECT IP/SOPA and why it’s bad for the internet. As a company that makes our living creating content for the web, we understand the very real danger of Orwellian Congressional tactics, written by people who obviously don’t understand technology.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

If this matter to you as well, please write your Congressperson, and keep lovin’ the internet!

VIA Studio says STOP SOPA!

Hugs, ~jason

Small Business Shamen Logo

Today we launch the official website for the Small Business Shamen Conference, April 4, 2012 at the Ice House. As we get going with a new business venture for VIA Studio I wanted to take a second and explain what the heck this thing is.

A quick overview.

The Small Business Shamen is a day of presentations and networking, centered around the changing world of small business. We feature both national and local speakers, intended to share stories, experiences and training designed to make you an more effective agent of change. Whether you own a business or want to make yourself more valuable in the workforce, this day is for you. Our keynote speaker is NY Times bestselling author, business consultant and social media guru, Chris Brogan!

Why are we promoting a conference?

As a business owner, I see the value in continuing education and professional development. I give my employees a stipend every year to spend how they see fit to attend conferences and seminars, and it’s proven infinitely valuable to VIA’s morale and knowledge base. Every time someone comes back from An Event Apart, there’s a gleam in their eyes that stays at least as long as the next soul-crushing client project (just kidding, we love our clients!).

I’m jealous.

The Shamen

That’s what this conference is all about. Jealousy. As someone who also wants to do a better job at leading my company I’ve been searching for worthwhile events. I’ve attended a few that I thought might help. Hell, I’ve even considered going back to school to pursue an MBA. At the end of the day, I’m jealous of my staff. They are amazing and I want to keep learning and growing along with them.

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s that easy anymore. The formula for success has changed. Real people running real businesses are dealing with unprecedented changes in all aspects of business, especially marketing & technology (VIA Studio’s specialty, hint hint). These days our work is not only the work of an interactive agency. We help with business process and efficiency, internal communication, and using innovations in technology and cloud computing to save our clients money and seriously impact their bottom line. We should also discuss the recession and how that affects business. Opportunity is knocking if your mind is open to change.

All this might be a hard pill to swallow from a company like VIA Studio. Not many people are going to hire us to restructure their entire organization. I’ll also be the first to admit we don’t have all the answers.

But gosh darn, I bet we can all figure it out along the way. Or at least help each other figure it out.

That’s the point of Small Business Shamen. You may be one or you might want to learn from one. Either way, come join us on April 4 and let’s get this bus moving again.

Check out the website to see what the day has to offer. It’ll be fun, informative, insightful, and educational.

~jason

PS – I want to thank all the people that are already working behind the scenes to make this happen. My staff, the speakers, the sponsors, and the others that volunteered their time on this because they also think this is a good idea and a needed experience.

VIA Studio Christmas Dinner at 610 Magnolia

We had our annual company Christmas dinner last night, served by Top Chef Edward Lee at the esteemed 610 Magnolia. Being surrounded by such good people and amazing talent makes me happy and grateful. I’d like to thank all our staff, our friends, our clients and vendors for the continued growth and success of the company, and hope that you and yours are just as happy and successful into the new year.

Cheers!

~jason