It’s this simple:

1. Login to your Adzooma account
2. Click ‘Refer A Friend‘ in the top right menu
3. Share your unique code

See, it really is that simple.

With unlimited referrals and gift cards allowed, you can refer as many people as you like. The more you refer, the more you’ll earn. Just make sure that you always use your code so we know which referrals are yours.

Sign in and start collecting your £20 vouchers right now!

‘But what on earth should I buy?’ 

I hear you. And as I realise how delightfully shocking it can be to receive instantly spendable vouchers, I’ve done some research for you in advance.

You’ll be pleased to hear I have found 5 ‘must have’ products, just in case you get in a pickle trying to decide what to spend your vouchers on.

Don’t expect a run of the mill here. There are no Sponge Bob bobble hats, glow-in-the-dark sneaker laces or bulk baked bean bargains.

You’re welcome.

1: A Life-Sized Rowan Atkinson Cutout – £30.43

I can tell you’re shocked, but wait . . . 

Free vouchers are the perfect opportunity to think big. ‘Out of the box’ kind of thing, right? You’ve got to be in it to win it.

And win it you will, when your friends rock up to your home and WOW! Look who’s right there in the hall to greet them. Imagine the look on their faces. 

Priceless!

Well actually it’s just one and a half Refer-a-Friend commissions. Exciting, right? 

But before you go diving in, I have 4 more Amazon jewels for you . . . 

2: Chicken Harness with 6ft Matching Leash – £25.18

I know, I know, genius right? 

‘Office dog? Pah! I’ve got an office chicken mate’ 

Say those words with pride my friend, because they’re guaranteed to propel you to the top of the office pecking order. 

See . . . you’re already thinking of names, aren’t you? Dave, Vera, Chick, Feathery Mcfeatherface, Clucky . . . decisions, decisions. 

But oh what fun you’ll have. 

If there was ever an intelligent reason to get yourself a pet chicken, this is it. Stardom awaits.

Wait though, it gets better: ‘A storage bag as gift: it not only holds chicken harness. but also accommodates the articles such as keys, coins, lipsticks’

And all for less than ONE Refer-a-friend commission?? I can’t cope. Please make them stop.

*NOTE: Unfortunately, Dave (best name) doesn’t come with the harness.

3: E.M.T. (Emergency Meal Transport) Insulated Lunch Tote – £35.61

So . . . you waltz back into the office, Dave on his leash by your side. Cool. 

But why not give your street cred a further boost by rockin this quite simply amazing lunch carrying device. You’ll become a legend in your own lunchtime, that’s for sure.

And it has the FREE added bonus of keeping those heartless (see what I did there?) lunch peepers away.

You can relax knowing your perfectly prepared tofu, asparagus and butternut squash wrap, or spare liver, remain cool, calm and collected.

Go on. You know it makes sense.

4: Archie McPhee Handi Squirrel – £8.99

Don’t you just love simple ideas? If you love them as much as I do, you’d better brace yourself for this one. 

Only 2 steps to heaven:

• Includes 4 paws & 1 head
• Transforms hand into a squirrel

I’m beyond excited. Is it a hand? Or is it a squirrel? Modern technology is off the hook right now. I just can’t keep up.

You might THINK your life is complete, but is it? Is it really? With just HALF of a single Refer-a-Friend commission, YOU can welcome Archie McPhee into your life. 

What a time to be alive.

5: Unicorn Squirrel Feeder – £16.92

LOOK. AT. IT. 

This makes me chuckle, and we all need a good chuckle every once in a while, do we not?

‘Nope. I do not want that magnificent creation in my garden’. Said no-one ever.

Other than squirrel haters obviously. 

Do you hate squirrels? No . . . of course you don’t. You love the furry little things, right? 

Well my friend, I’m hopefully making your day with the news that YOU can enjoy the warm rush of bliss you get looking at that image, every day, in the flesh, for the rest of your life. 

For cryin out loud, just click the image and get one right now. 

Hope that helps . . .

As you can see, ‘buy with your soul’ is my message to you today. And I suggest you start promoting right now, because you know Archie McPhee is going to sell out FAST!

If you need any more help or details simply let us know, ok?

To say that Amazon is a huge company is a gross understatement.

They are a global powerhouse operating in more than 16 marketplaces worldwide, with over 100 million Prime users signed up to the website. Last year, they generated more than $230 billion in revenue, making CEO Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world. (Until Bill Gates took back the throne a few days ago).

You don’t get this big without breaking some eggs. And Amazon is not without criticism.

Part of Amazon’s growth relied on the premise of a mutually beneficial relationship between them and small businesses. They provide a platform and audience, you supply the products.

But with big names like Nike ending their relationships with the platform, you have to wonder: does this work anymore?

Should you trust this global company to help your business and not crush you on their warpath to take over more of the market?

A marketplace of their own

Amazon didn’t start off with the intent of becoming a marketplace. They were an online bookseller in Seattle, packing and distributing the books themselves at a local post office.

But rather than sit still, Amazon’s success relies on seeing a gap and utilising their strengths. That’s their secret. They had faster delivery. Faster checkouts by patenting the ‘1-click checkout’ in 1999. Why should they limit themselves to books when they can ship and sell everything using their system?

It’s their ethos of being “fast”.

The same ethos which seems responsible for the unjust treatment of their own employees.

To be faster than everyone else, their employees are expected to pick up an item every 8 seconds. Every move is monitored, including their bathroom breaks. And, as a warehouse employee told The New Yorker:

“I’ve seen people who aren’t even thirty years old get injuries they’re going to have for the rest of their lives, but whenever we ask for the speed of work or the repetitive motions to be changed we’re told it’s not going to happen”

The article detailed one injury, where 22-year old Safiyo Mohamed tore an intervertebral disk in her back bending over to pick up a box. The pain from this injury will be with her forever. Mohamed claims Amazon did not care at all, saying “if you can’t work all the time, you are nothing to them”.

Mohamed continued, stating:

“How am I going to have a baby when I can’t pick him up, when I’m worried about being pregnant? I’m so angry. Amazon doesn’t want humans, they want robots. I will have this forever because of them. They don’t care at all.”

That’s a bad sign. How can you trust a company to look after your business if they can’t take care of their own employees?

It’s an ethical decision that should not be overlooked.

Sadly, most business decisions don’t come down to whether something is good or bad. Mostly because there is no clear binary. There are shades of grey in everything. As much as people will boo the company down for the treatment of their employees, others will praise them for providing jobs to over 647,000 people.

On average, they add 337 workers a day.

Amazon’s massive growth to accommodate one of the biggest businesses in the world. In April 2019, Amazon had 119,928,851 products listed on their site. There’s no other company in the world that can compete with this.

But these products aren’t all from Amazon. They cannot, under any circumstances, produce and market to that scale. It’s just not feasible. In fact, over half of all Amazon sales come from third-party sellers.

They’ve built a market place and need you to be the venders. But that might not mean that you’ll get much out of this relationship.

Fulfilled by Amazon

Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) is the company’s scheme for small businesses to sell on Amazon. In exchange for a monthly fee of $40, companies can list their goods on the website.

In addition, Amazon will also take care of storing, packing and shipping.

Having Amazon behind you isn’t like an ordinary reseller. At the start of the article, we told you that millions of people, equivalent to the entire population of Russia, visit the website every month.

If your company is on that website, you’ve got access to product exposure like never before.

But it’s not just about exposure. It’s about trust.

89% of buyers are more likely to buy products from Amazon [PDF] than any other e-commerce site. That’s because they know Amazon. They trust them, they know exactly how it works and they’ve ordered there before.

If you’re listed on Amazon, you’ve already got the backing and trust of its users.

For a lot of businesses, this equates to more sales and profit. In fact, Andrew Tjernlund of Tjernlund Services got in touch with us to say that FBA has become the largest part of his manufacturing business, earning them annual 8-figure sales from the platform.

Taking care of the logistics

“Amazon’s fulfilment is not only quick and easy, but it is way cheaper than anything else I have seen. I can purchase shipping through them cheaper than I can by going to the post office, PLUS they warehouse my inventory and handle returns.”

Jason VanDevere – Goal Crazy Planners

FBA doesn’t just give you more exposure. It handles all of the logistics for you.

Amazon, as Kerry Mellin states, Amazon “does nearly all the legwork for us”.

Your product will be stored in their warehouses, clearing up space for you. When an item sells, they’ll package it and deliver it through their own shipping service. Thanks to negotiating deals with the key players in the distribution industry, this is far cheaper and quicker than normal shipping costs.

This means you’ll save time and effort shipping your items while getting a cheaper rate. That’s a no brainer.

What’s the catch of FBA?

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Amazon needs your products to fill their website, but that’s not the only advantage to them.

Your data is.

Don’t worry, they’re not mining for personal data about your company. Instead, they’re using you for market research.

Every business that signs up to FBA is a giant experiment to find out what sells. Market research is a breeze when you are in control of the entire market. They have access to every single figure and piece of data. They know what sells and what doesn’t – so when they want to release their own product, they can pretty much guarantee that it will work. It’s the same way Netflix go about curating content.

If you do well on Amazon, there’s a danger that they will launch their own version that will knock you completely out of the water.

This happened with an aluminium curved laptop stand by Rain Design, which was an unexpected best-seller. Until Amazon released an identical design for half the price, which caused their sales to plummet.

In 2006, Williams-Sonoma sold a unique chair called the Orb. Surprise surprise, Amazon launched their own version also called the Orb, which landed them a lawsuit from Williams-Sonoma.

The controversies have launched an EU investigation this year into whether Amazon is using this data to unfairly promote their own goods in anti-competitive conduct. 

Cheaper counterfeits can win 

Any marketplace faces competition. You’re never going to be able to sell uncontested.

Despite investing millions on anti-counterfeiting software, Amazon has a big problem with counterfeit products selling on their platform.

A Wall Street Journal investigation found that thousands of products on the website “have been declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labelled or are banned by federal regulators”. Worryingly, these products include children’s toys that have dangerous levels of lead.

But it’s not just the presence of these sellers that’s the problem. It’s that Amazon’s algorithm is set up to help them win, by valuing low prices highly in their algorithm. This is great for customers looking for a cheap bargain. For sellers, this means you’re trusting a platform who’s algorithm could cause cheaper counterfeits to rank better than you.

Birkenstock is a great example of this. Their customer support system was flooded with people complaining about their shoes, all of which had been purchased from counterfeit sellers on Amazon.

When they asked about the counterfeits, Amazon simply replied that they “couldn’t divulge private information”. What a nice way to avoid responsibility. Unluckily for Birkenstock, this wasn’t the worst part.

Not only were they losing business due to counterfeits, but Amazon had also started buying enormous numbers of stock to resell on their own site. By the time Birkenstock discovered this, Amazon already had over a year’s worth of stock in their own private stores.

This gave them the power to destroy their brand by selling their product however they wished. It was a lose-lose situation for Birkenstock.

Price is a big factor in their algorithms, but it’s not the sole way it’s calculated. Factors like user views, shipping and seller rating also play a role here. But don’t put it past counterfeit companies to submit fake reviews and try other cheap tricks to fool the system.

Some companies are even paying $10,000 a month to illicitly trick their way to the top of the system. Although most small businesses don’t have that kind of money, it’s worth bearing in mind that you’re not contributing to a completely fair marketplace.

The playing field isn’t even. It’s up to you if you want to enter the jungle. 

Tackling the competition with PPC ads

There is another way that you can make your product stand out on Amazon. That’s using their PPC ads.

If you’re used to using PPC on other platforms like Google, you’ll be in for a little shock with Amazon. They are different from any other platform you’ve used before and will get some getting used to.

For those that are new to Amazon PPC, you can advertise in the following ways:

• Amazon’s own SERPs. These ads will show as products either at the top of the results or in between entries depending on the device. 
• Headlines. These are three or more products that appear in their own banner ads at the top of the page, accompanied by some text for extra advertising real estate.
• Product pages. These appear on the product pages themselves, usually in a “sponsored products related to this item” box. 
• Off-site marketing. Like Google Ads have the display network, Amazon also has a way of advertising their products on banners on different websites.
• Email newsletters. Now, this one is a nice bonus that no one else offers. Amazon generates emails for their customers and sometimes throw in a few targeted sponsors inside.

It’s a lot of options, with big potential to increase your sales. In fact, with just one simple search, users can be exposed to dozens of different product ads.

For example, let’s search for hot water bottles.

At the top, the headline adverts were for ThermaCare pain relief, who were properly bidding on the search based on the assumption that people with muscle injuries are likely to sooth it with hot water bottles.

At the top of the results, 4 sponsored SERP ads were positioned at the top of the product list.

These ads copy the exact style of the rest of the results and are impossible to discern bar the small “Sponsored” text underneath the ads. They are done in such a way to appear that they are naturally at the top of the algorithm, allowing sellers a way of battling the counterfeits.

At the bottom of the search results page, there was another row of sponsored products that are designed to look just like the listings above. But with their own row, they are more obvious advertisements than the SERP ads.

In terms of product exposure, you can’t really go wrong with Amazon PPC.

And some small businesses have profited greatly from it, finding better ROI than other platforms. At a talk at the BrightonSEO conference, Prabhat Shah revealed that some of their clients were actually moving 50-60% of their allocated Google Ads budget to Amazon because of the success they’ve had.

Don’t get too comfortable yet.

These are the good points, now let’s have a look at the bad.

Is PPC more hassle than it’s worth?

Let’s not beat around the bush here. Amazon’s PPC system is difficult to use and set up, especially if you’re new to the PPC world.

For some small businesses, this skill cap bars you from getting a return that’s worth it.

“I used Amazon’s PPC service for a few months and didn’t find that it helped much. Our budget was around $200/week. That amounted to a few extra sales but barely enough to justify using the program. I would not recommend it based on my experience.”

Mike Greig – NinjaBudgeter

If you’re willing to put in the effort to learn it, there’s no reason why you can’t profit. Like Jeff Moriarty tells us:

“With Amazon PPC, we wasted a lot of money in the beginning, because we didn’t quite know how to use it. But after researching online, we were able to make it work. And it helps. We see about 40% of our sales coming from the Amazon PPC program.”

Part of the Amazon PPC learning curve is understanding how important competitor bidding is.

PPC doesn’t just give you a chance to make your advert stand out. It also gives people a chance to essentially steal potential customers directly from the competition in a way that’s not possible on other platforms.

Amazon allows you to run ads on specific product pages. As well as more rows of Sponsored products at the bottom of the listing, you can also see an ad underneath the description like the following:

Wow. That’s a bold move. You can attract customers who are one click away from buying from a competitor to your product instead.

Heavy competition isn’t the word for some searches. It’s a cut-throat scene.

Both a help and a hinderance

“They don’t have great worker conditions, to put it mildly, but they’re hardly as bad as the fashion or mining industries. Their logistics infrastructure is the best in the world, and they’ve got one of the best tech solution offerings in the world in AWS, thanks to their internal SOA engineering culture. Are there things they should do better? Sure. Veting[sic] all marketplace sellers, human customer support and lots of it, and greater focus on reviews and listing manipulation would be lovely. But I’d say they’re a net benefit to business specifically, and the world more generally.”

Pete Watson-Wailes – Tough & Competent

As this article has proven, there’s no easy “good or bad” answer when it comes to Amazon. I can’t just circle an option and move on.

If you’re wondering if Amazon is good for small businesses, the really awful answer is that it depends. Sorry. It feels like a cop-out, but it’s true.

For some small businesses, Amazon is a fantastic way to gain exposure, increase your sales and get a much-needed boost to your profits. For others, it’s just not worth it.

But there’s not a clear conscious on which small businesses can benefit from Amazon. For John Moss, it depends on the type of product you’re selling. Anything that was bespoke or made to order would not survive on the website.

But using Amazon for their standard samples or test goods, they found that their “available product lines sell much faster when offered via FBA than by means of direct shipping”.

For Christopher Nelson, success is based just on size, as he states “unless you have a massive budget, I don’t see how Amazon is an effective small business selling site”.

Amazon has the power to either save or kill your business. You can only really know for sure if you try it.

If you need a hand with selling on Amazon, check out Jungle Scout – your all in one platform for selling on Amazon. They can help you grow your business, start selling and explore agency and brand solutions.

A necessary evil

Out of curiosity, I posted a simple poll on Twitter to get a general consensus of how people feel towards Amazon. The most common answer? That they are a necessary evil. And I think that sums a lot of feelings up pretty nicely.

Particularly paired with this quote from Calloway Cook of Illuminate Labs, which nicely echoed the feelings of lots of similar businesses.

“Amazon is a necessary channel for eCommerce businesses that sell exclusively online, but they can be very frustrating to work with. Once you sign up for a Professional Seller account, which costs $40/month, you get assigned an Amazon rep. In my experience (I’ve dealt with two), the Amazon reps take an extremely long time to respond to your questions. I’ve sent my Amazon reps troubleshooting questions that took them over a week to respond to.

“Selling on Amazon is still absolutely worth it for our business, since the vast majority of our market buys on Amazon. I just wish they took small businesses more seriously.”

And that’s the key problem, isn’t it? Amazon needs small businesses, but they’re at a size of unprecedented growth that they don’t need to take small businesses seriously. They call the shots.

You either play along or make do without them.

An unmoderated platform that will spiral out of control 

Amazon is the biggest online marketplace in the world. But their size is something that will cause their downfall.

They let almost anybody in. If you’ve got a product, you can sell and advertise on Amazon. It’s free for all, with only one clear winner: Amazon.

There’s not enough of a moderating process for sellers, which is why the platform is ripe with counterfeits. There’s not enough help and support for sellers either. If you’ve got a problem, Amazon just doesn’t care enough. It’s not big enough to impact them in the grand scheme of things.

They just want to continue their growth.

It’s not just Amazon, the online retailer. It’s Amazon, the suppliers of Kindle and home of the Ebook. It’s Amazon, land of the voice assistants where Alexa is queen, ready to answer your questions. It’s Amazon, with its streaming service and growing film studio.

But that might be their downfall.

There’s only so much growth before you can collapse. You can’t monopolise and dominate every market out there. There will be a point of no return. And if small businesses decide they no longer need Amazon, this could trigger their end.

Only time will tell.

Well, not quite. But it doesn’t feel that far off. Bezos’ departure has come as a huge shock to the tech industry. He’s been omnipresent in any tech-head’s life for what seems like forever.

From seeing his smug face pop up for the first time in 1997 when you could almost tell by his smile that he knew he was destined for glory, to being roasted by Chris Rock at the Oscars just last year, we’ve seen Bezos rise from nothing, to one of the most powerful men in the world in less than 25 years.

Bezos has become, without doubt, a tech industry legend. Love him or loathe him, you can’t fail to put him on a pedestal alongside the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Page who have changed the world in one way or another.

Jeff Bezos has done that too. Not many Kings have.

End of an era:

–0 to $1.5t (nobody in history);
–Turned biggest cost centers into profit centers (nobody in history);
–Established recurring revenue relationship w/82% of US households (nobody in history); and
–Hired 500k+ people in 12 months (nobody in history)#Bezos

— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) February 2, 2021

What does this mean for Amazon?

Stock fluctuations are usually a good indicator and at this stage the answer seems to be: not that much.

Stocks closed at 1.11% up for the day, which is pretty standard for Amazon and a good sign for Amazon they’ve made the right decision in choosing their next main man.

The man in question? CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Andy Jassy.

Jassy, a Harvard grad, has been at Amazon in one form or another since 1997, beginning life in the marketing department before moving to found AWS in 2003 where he became CEO in 2014.

“He’s a win-at-all-costs type of person,” said Zoltan Szabadi, a Google Cloud employee who formerly worked alongside Jassy. “This is just one of the many tactics that he thinks will help his business.”

Those tactics seem to be working too. A subsidiary of Amazon.com inc (the mothership), as of 2017 AWS owned a dominant 33% share of the internet’s cloud services and generated $35billion in revenue in 2019.

Its power, though, is bigger than numbers. The tech boom was built on AWS’ infrastructure. It’s pretty much invisible to the general public, yet if it fell, not only would we norms go into post-AWS shock, but so would governments around the world. NASA, the CIA, Spotify and Netflix amongst so many others are powered by AWS.

There’s no doubting Jassy has done an impressive job, but this is quite the step up, and as Tim Cook found taking over from Steve Jobs — handling someone else’s baby isn’t always easy.

While Bezos doesn’t move from the CEO to his new Executive Chairman role until the third quarter of 2021, he has taken a reduced role in the running of the company over the last few years, so the transition is unlikely to cause much of a hiccup.

Amazon dropped an astounding earnings report too yesterday which showed the company nearly doubled its sales and profits last year, so as Bezos said when announcing he was stepping down, “Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future.”

What that future looks like is anyone’s guess at the moment. There are so many arms to Amazon – from Prime to Logistics, from Robotics to Publishing – that whatever the strategy is, Andy Jassy will have a lot to juggle.

Not least dealing with the Federal Trade Commission investigation that came to an end yesterday concluding that, “Amazon baited drivers with promised earnings, and then secretly slashed wages by pocketing tips.” A despicable move when you consider Amazon earned $386 billion in 2020 and Amazon drivers earn close to the minimum wage.

So is that the reason Bezos is moving on? To help Amazon turn over a new leaf after years of bad press which ranges from warehouse worker maltreatment to alleged anti competitive practices?

This doesn’t seem to be stopping the company itself, though. We’ve seen clear indicators that Amazon aren’t holding back on the alleged anti competition as they look to cement themselves as the world’s central fulfilment outlet, with the creation of services that will carry out the fulfilment like Amazon Air and Amazon Prime Air, to the expansion into the likes of groceries and Pharmacy that will do the fulfilling.

This will be Jassy’s biggest test. Toeing the line between good and bad.

Maybe Bezos feels it’s time to get out before his legacy is tarnished by the latter?

What does this mean for Jeff Bezos?

Just in the same way Tom Brady insisted he wasn’t retiring when he left the New England Patriots, Bezos has made it clear he’s got plenty more to give.

In a similar mould to when Bill Gates stepped away from Microsoft, Bezos has stated that his ambition is to do good. Two of the major projects he’s talked about working on are of a philanthropic nature: The Day 1 Fund and the Bezos Earth Fund, which are starting with $2 billion and $10 billion to help homeless families and fight climate change, respectively.

Bezos also seems to be inspired by the man who recently took his place as the world’s richest man too, Elon Musk, as he’ll look to continue forward with his work on Blue Origin to “help make space travel mainstream”.

And it’s also very important not to forget that Bezos owns the Washington Post, one of America’s most popular and powerful dailies. Whether Bezos will venture further into media ala Rupert Murdoch is anyone’s guess. This doesn’t seem like a very Bezos thing to do, but it’s something to stay mindful of.

However, will Bezos really step away from Amazon anyway? Not everyone thinks so. Speaking to Reuters, CFRA analyst Tuna Amobi said, “I don’t think he’s going to be completely hands off.”

While Ken Perkins, President of RetailMetrics LLC also told Reuters similar, “Jeff Bezos has held a firm grip on the company for a long time. I have to believe he will have a say in what is going on and have a big hand in big picture decisions.”

Whether that’s in a reduced capacity role like Gates initially went into at Microsoft or as Reuters put it, “step[ping] down without stepping away”, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see what happens.

If this is a move to help Amazon “turn over a new leaf”, it does make sense that stepping down without stepping away may be the action here.

That was Brady’s tactic too, but at least he actually left the building.

What does this mean for marketers?

It’s very hard to say right now. Jassy has proven adept at building the most profitable part of Amazon, but moving into e-commerce is a different ball game.

However, if that success translates easily, then for us as marketers and business owners, we need to be in a position to piggyback off Amazon’s success and that means making yourself an Amazon Ads expert and getting to grips with their whole ecosystem.

I know there will be some of you out there reading this who believe we should fight Amazon’s dominance, and that’s right we should in whatever way we can. We’ve seen the damage that Amazon can do to small businesses and the way it gobbles up the industry. Yet Amazon does offer legitimate ways to improve your business too. There are so many small businesses out there that wouldn’t exist without Amazon.

Some may see this as Amazon swallowing the economy, but to watch idly while Amazon eats you up is only self sabotage.

Bezos or not, Amazon isn’t changing anytime soon. Antitrust isn’t going to change anything either.

What is going to change is every corner of the e-commerce industry and that’s not an overstatement.

We need to be in a position to benefit from that if we want to survive and thrive.

What’s your opinion? Head over to our Digital Marketing Facebook group to get involved in the conversation.

From what started as a Stanford PhD project, Google is now a multi-billion dollar company and at the forefront of multiple technologies.

But with that power comes great responsibility, as a great man once said. Now Google’s power and responsibility is again up for debate as they look to battle the Australian government over its news media.

What happened?

The Australian Parliament is considering a new code of law that would see companies like Google and Facebook have to pay local media outlets for providing their content in search and on social media.

In response, Google threatened to take away access to its search engine in Australia if it went ahead with the policy.

In a press conference, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said they did not respond to threats and “Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia”.

What would that mean for Google?

Mel Silva, managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand, said the idea of “unrestricted linking between websites” was key to search and called it an “unmanageable financial and operational risk.”

“If this version of the code were to become law it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.”

Having to pay media outlets to place their content on search would cost millions of dollars and not guarantee the most relevant content to users. But Google has seen both sides of the coin in this scenario.

In 2010, Google pulled its search engine out of China after a cyberattack controversy over censorship of search results.

Then, in 2014, the tech giant removed access to Google News from Spain after its government passed a similar law to Australia where news aggregators had to pay the publishers for their stories.

What would that mean for Australians?

Losing access to Google would be huge for Australians, particularly marketers who rely on the search engine for their work.

An Australian looking for a local plumber or gardener would be met with a screen telling them Google was no longer available to them. Online shops would lose custom through paid and organic search. The marketers who worked with these businesses could lose clients and revenue of their own. Even non-commerce sites could be affected where they used Google for their search functions.

It would be akin to taking a species out of an ecosystem or food chain. There would be growing changes to anyone or anything linked to the missing party and it would take time for everyone to adjust or otherwise fold.

In a Sydney Morning Herald article published yesterday, advertisers believe that while Google’s threat could hurt businesses, more competition could help them survive. This hope comes from an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report that suggested a lack of competition was causing “significant problems” for advertisers and consumers.

The report also stated that Google held at least 50% of all four markets used to buy, sell and publish display advertising. These findings have likely fuelled the requirement of payment for Australian news content.

Is the Australian government justified in its idea?

With an ad tech industry worth over $3.4bn (AUD) and claims that Google’s dominance in those markets has driven up advertising costs, it makes sense that the government would want to find ways to level the playing field. They’re also not alone in their attempt at taking Google on, as Spain and China’s examples show.

But there needs to be more research carried out to make sure there aren’t any better alternatives, from a B2B and B2C perspective. Google is synonymous with search — paid and organic — and a shift to unfamiliar platforms might cause more harm than good.

The United States submitted a comment to the Australian Senate calling the proposed code unreasonable and “fundamentally imbalanced” while S4 Capital founder Sir Martin Sorrell believed the current system would not sustain the local news media sector even if the legislation was passed.

Is Google justified in its response?

There are different perspectives in this story.

From a business POV, Google wouldn’t want to spend vast sums of money on content. It might also show a sign of weakness to investors. From a user experience viewpoint, Google has remained firm in its user-first position. Search results are based on algorithms that provide users the most relevant information for their search queries.

That approach has led to what many call “zero-click queries” where Google provides the answer to a query on the search results page (SERP) without the user needing to click on a link to view the page it comes from. It’s a controversial topic and ABC believe it’s being used in response to Australia’s parliamentary discussions:

The Drum also spotted this and said Google explained it was “an experiment to test the value of Australian news services”.

Alternatives to Google

But wait… Google isn’t the only search engine on the Web. I wrote an article on Google’s search engine rivals back in January last year and there are plenty of alternatives available.

• Microsoft Bing is the second largest search engine in terms of market share (even if that makes up less than 3% compared to Google’s ~90%). The search engine has made a lot of positive changes in recent months as they look to close the gap
• Yahoo! Search is powered by Microsoft Bing but it still offers an alternative although Australian director Yahoo Serious might not be too happy (he sued them in 2000 for trademark infringement and lost)
• DuckDuckGo is the cool kid on the block thanks to its focus on net privacy and being everything that Google isn’t. Its daily search queries have grown from 0.033m in January 2010 to over 67.7m in January 2021.
• Ecosia is a good choice if you care about the environment. The Berlin search engine uses its ad revenue to plant trees where they are needed the most.
• Swisscows, like DuckDuckGo, cares about user privacy and doesn’t store data. It also omits all explicit content and has its search powered by Microsoft Bing like Yahoo!

It’s likely Bing would be the primary choice should Google pull the plug but it’s good to know there’s a variety of alternatives for Australians. This might also give marketers down under some new environments to explore for search traffic opportunities.

Some of the great features include:

• Microsoft Audience Network – a native advertising solution offering advanced audience targeting and brand-specific native ad placements. Microsoft Audience Ads can reach over 16 million unique monthly users in Australia.
• Bing Places for Business – a Microsoft Bing portal for local business owners to list their businesses on the search engine.
• Bing Webmaster Tools – a free tool offered by Microsoft Bing, similar to Google Search Console, allowing website owners to add their sites to the Microsoft Bing web crawler, view site performance and much more.

Find out more information on what Microsoft Ads can do for you and Adzooma’s special offer here.

Final thoughts

In my piece, Google Is Not A Meritocracy, I looked at some of the ways Google has used its dominance for good and not-so-good. One of the points was Google’s effect on local journalism:

“For the Wall Street Journal, Lukas I. Alpert wrote that Google – along with Facebook – was ‘making concessions long sought by news publishers whose business has been hurt by the platforms’ dominance’. The claim was that Google was diverting negative attention from the regulators, rather than helping news outlets out of goodwill.

US law officials launched antitrust investigations into both companies to see whether their online dominance was anti-competition. A meeting is set to take place in November in Colorado.”

That was November 2019. Google is still being investigated as part of an anti-trust lawsuit and its relationship with news publishers is still under scrutiny. Whether the Australian government’s tactics are too bullish or not, their reasoning is legitimate.

There is no meritocracy here, even if meritocracies were a real thing. Google’s power in national advertising markets borders on oligarchical, at least according to the Australian government’s findings. If pushing for parity causes such a problem, perhaps the wider industry needs to be investigated before its bubble bursts like the dot-com boom it survived.

You can’t separate the role of a website from the importance of website design. The right website design embodies your brand and delivers your vision to web users.

• It can convince potential buyers.
• It showcases your expertise and credibility.
• It makes your business memorable. 
• It shows your users that you understand them. 
• It conveys your message and offers.

With over a billion active websites in the world, businesses are competing for visibility and attention.

Web design agencies specialise in all aspects of your online presence, from responsive design to SEO considerations. They bridge the gap between just being online and thriving online. But, more importantly, they are experts at building successful partnerships with small business clients.

Here’s a breakdown of how website design agencies can help your business. 

1. It’s time and cost-effective

Doing everything in-house can be a time-demanding process for your team. Maintaining the look and feel of your website when creating and adding new media and web pages can also be tricky.

Web design agencies focus on the aesthetics and experience of a website and they’ll often work with graphic designers to get the best results. 

That’s a lot of work to do by yourself.

We’ve broken down the time spent in researching, planning and designing features for your website to 34 hours per week. This doesn’t include the time spent trying to fix saturated images and broken page templates! Hiring a web design agency ensures you’ve got an expert team who can customise your site as you need it. They can add features into a CMS as required to meet your goals and branding. 

Working with an agency that understands your vision enables your team to focus on what they do best.

2. They can bring fresh ideas

Agencies understand the importance of web design as the first touchpoint between a brand and its audience. They are involved in the creation and design of a solid online presence. They focus on criteria that make the website user-friendly, including:

• Accessibility
• Responsive design for mobile and tablets
• Calls to actions (CTA)
• Enhanced UX design
• Intuitive navigation
• Appearance and aesthetics of the site
• Web development
• Integration with a CMS

Web agencies keep your sites looking fresh and relevant. Because they are experts, they can provide the best design advice and ideas to bring your website to the next level.

And in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of web agencies have reached out to their clients to help them build better marketing strategies. New ideas can keep small businesses afloat and maintain engagement with the audience in times of need.

3. They can optimise your site for users and search engines

The best websites balance user experience and search visibility.

Understanding why websites are important for business is understanding how to meet the needs of search engines and web users simultaneously. 

Web design agencies are specialists in how to maximise visibility and functionality. That means you can either use a site built from scratch or a CMS (content management system) such as:

• Squarespace
• Web.com
• VEVS
• MotoCMS
• Strikingly
• Webflow

Most agencies are familiar with these CMS’s but we recommend checking their expertise. With over 70% of business websites using the WordPress platform, the first point of concern for design agencies is to leverage the technology available for SEO. 

User experience can determine your online future. Therefore, SEO should work hand-in-hand with UX design for the following reasons:

• Responsive design is crucial as mobile-friendly designs boost ranking
• Positive and engaging user experience increases ranking position
• Web accessibility for mobile devices but also assistive technology improves SEO
• A design that understands and meets the demographics needs also boosts ranking presence

Get more eyes on your brand with a web design agency from Adzooma Marketplace.

4. They can make you stand out from the crowd

We believe that you can get a feel for how a web design agency tackles different design challenges and functionality when you check their portfolio.

We’ve selected some of the best UX design agencies that combine expertise in technology, web marketing, psychology, sociology for intuitive, engaging, and purposeful user experience.

5. They’ll help you improve conversions

A functional and engaging website doesn’t just look good. It also boosts conversion paths by maximising the impact of its content.

Here are some of the conversion-boosting benefits you can expect from web design agencies: 

• Effective calls-to-actions placement and design
• An intuitive layout that creates engagement
• Design of an effective data-capturing form (when relevant)

Because they have UX design experience, web design agencies know how to build user-centric pages that act as a conversion funnel. 

If you’re looking for a web design agency, Adzooma Marketplace has the answer for you. Find the perfect web design agency now.

Let’s take a look at what’s recently gone down, who with and what it means for advertisers.

Apple vs. advertisers

The new IOS 14 update to hit iPhones has shaken the advertising world. Those with the new phone software will now be given the option to opt-out of tracking on other apps and websites. For most users, it’ll be a no brainer as user privacy is constantly a hot topic. However, this is worrying for advertisers who make a lot of money from user data.

Whilst Apple considers this a huge win for user privacy, the loss of this data means ad personalisation is no longer possible. Facebook has reacted by saying that this will create a big problem for developers and publishers as it saw a 50% revenue decrease when personalisation was removed from in-app Audience Network campaigns. This is true for any other company that utilises app tracking, such as Google (who are also kiboshing third-party cookies) so the foundations of ad functionality are set to change forever.

Apple has never been known for exploiting its users’ data, something which was emphasised in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal by their CEO; Tim Cook stated Apple would never monetise customer information because “privacy was a human right”.

Apple seems to be differentiating themselves for the better and bolstering its trusted customer relationships. But how can they afford to be doing this when this threatens to cripple companies like Facebook? Well, advertising data doesn’t really impact Apple as their profit is primarily made in hardware products and software licenses.

They have conceded slightly and pushed back the opt-in until the start of 2021 but that isn’t because they’ve changed their minds – even with the likes of Mail Online threatening to pull its app from the App Store. Rather, they likely don’t want to appear to be the dominating force they’re currently accused of.

Apple vs. Facebook

The instance above is just one example of how Apple and Facebook have butted heads. Zuckerberg recently called Apple ‘monopolistic’ and harmful to customers in a company meeting to 50,000+ employees. He stated that Apple has a “unique stranglehold” on what gets on phones.

Apple also reportedly refused to let Facebook notify users that they would take 30% of in-app purchases made through a new ticket-selling feature deeming it ‘irrelevant information’. Furthermore, the iPhone inventors made Facebook remove their Instant Games feature from Facebook Gaming to pass their strict App Store approval process. Facebook was unhappy about giving iOS users an inferior product to those on Android and joined in with Microsoft’s criticism of app stores.

Facebook and Apple have always been rivals and in a continuous cycle of one upmanship; feature by feature they have taken turns in being nose-length in front of one another. Whilst they once had a harmonious relationship, today they fight to be the most dominant corporation in people’s daily lives.

What this means for advertisers: this is interesting not only for those advertising on the App Store but those selling through their iOS app. If Facebook successfully put enough pressure on Apple regarding this issue, the 30% being cut would be great for advertisers.

Apple vs. Google

For years, Google has paid money to ensure it is the default search engine on Apple’s products. This is just one of the reasons why Google is under investigation for antitrust by the EU and has so far been ordered to pay over €8.2.billion in fines. Now, as the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority sets its sights on squashing the arrangement, Apple is said to be considering launching its own search engine… and you can imagine how well that will go down.

Ruffling feathers clearly isn’t an issue for Apple. In fact, neither is many things: they don’t need Google’s money, they’re hiring search specialists themselves, and their products are beginning to bypass Google altogether. They’ve also just launched their very own certification course: Apple Search Ads has been designed to teach developers how to become better app marketers and how to get the most from advertising on the App Store.

Apple seems to be playing a very clever game: their search engine would likely be a highly personalised, yet ad-free, data hub which would have complete privacy. With millions of users already addicted to Apple’s friendly UX, the contrast to its competitors could easily sway their habits – Apple has a lot to gain from creating a search engine whilst Google’s iron grip can only be weakened.

What this means for advertisers: an Apple search engine would mean most marketers would have to take action. SEOs would be forced to adapt and optimise; PPC managers would have to learn a new platform; advertisers would need to understand this new audience. That’s if Apple were to let advertisers on there at all.

Apple vs. Samsung

It’s quite easy to see how Apple and Samsung rub each other up the wrong way being the two main choices when it comes to buying a smartphone. Samsung devices run on the Android operating system, takes from the Google Play store and typically have better hardware specs. Comparatively, iPhones run iOS software, use the Apple App Store and arguably perform better. The main trade-off is between Apple’s intuitive design, sleek UI and overall superior quality with the affordability, customisation and freedom which an Android affords users.

With a seven-year-long lawsuit over patents, in which Samsung was ordered to pay $539m to Apple, it’s fair to say their relationship has always been one of rivalry. As the tension mounts between Apple and other tech giants, you can bet Samsung will be happy to stand by and watch the predators circle.

What this means for advertisers: the divide between Android and iOS only seems to be getting bigger. Soon, advertisers may have to devise entirely different strategies for selling apps on the two app stores as rules for both begin to become more tailored to each tech giant’s whims and fancies.

Apple vs. Epic Games

A debate which has headlined across the world is the recent fallout between Apple and Epic Games. The makers of fan-favourite Fortnite sidestepped the App Store rules by introducing a direct payment option inside their app. Its CEO, Tim Sweeney, described Apple as a “monopoly power”, accused it of “unfair and anti-competitive actions” and called its 30% cut on in-app purchases “exorbitant”. He then filed a lawsuit, going as far as saying that they had “become what it once railed against: the behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation.”

Interestingly, Microsoft chose to enter the conversation and announced its support for Epic Games.

Apple has since come back at Epic Games to counter-sue them for damages citing them as a “multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the ‌App Store‌.” The battle continues to rage as all they have currently been able to agree on is that they should be tried by the court with a bench trial rather than a jury trial. Whatever the outcome, this is likely to be another frosty relationship for many years to come.

What this means for advertisers: advertisers can now see what Apple does to those that flout the rules. Their no-nonsense approach makes it clear that those who want to advertise on their App Store need to tow the line. This may be the big media coverage which finally forces advertisers to choose a side.

Upsetting every Apple cart

It’s clear that Apple’s choices go down as well as a fart in a lift when it comes to their competitors; publishers, advertisers, Samsung, Facebook, Google, and Epic Games are just some of the big names screwing their faces up at Apple’s decision making. But, as Apple makes obvious strides for user privacy, can its dominance be likened to Google’s? Big tech transparency is something which is frequently under fire, and for good reason, but whilst Google seems to be driven by data collection, Apple’s actions suggest they are on a more moral path.

As Apple goes up against the rest of the world, their vision of an ad-free, private world feels a lot more positive than that of its competitors. It’ll be interesting to see who they pick a fight with next, and how it plays into their future plans for tech.

Not only that, but people consume 11.4 pieces of content before they invest in a product or service. If your writing is fuelled with benefits, aimed at the right target audience and full of personality, the chances of people buying from you will be much higher. Having an excellent content marketing strategy has strengthened some of the most luxurious brands.

High-quality content will also increase the visibility of your site, drive targeted traffic and show brand authority. If you apply advanced techniques to your content, such as behavioural economics with PPC, you’ll be able to draw on psychology and economics to increase conversions. The opportunities are endless.

But, that’s only if you’ve perfected the basics. If you’re new to writing or need pointing in the right direction, here are 7 things I wish I knew when I first began putting pen to paper.

1. Get something on the page

Just write something. Anything. Getting some words down is much better than looking at a blank page. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be written down.

This applies to anything, whether it’s PPC ads, a blog post, marketing emails, a sales page or something entirely different. Whatever comes to mind, be it bullet points, a random headline or a description that needs polishing, putting the ideas on the page makes room for new, and potentially better ideas to come to fruition.

Following this structure will also help you get over writer’s block, stop procrastinating and begin framing your work. And, because you aren’t trying to write something perfect, you’re likely to write in a more creative and conversational tone.

To make this clear, colloquial writing is much more relatable. It makes it sound like you’re having a conversation with the reader instead of reading from a textbook and makes the content much easier to read. If you use this kind of tone on your website, people will connect with your brand and be much more likely to make a purchase.

2. Forget the rules you’ve learnt about writing

If you read the last line of section 1, you’ll see that the sentence starts with “And”. This is because there are few rules to writing when you enter the world of content.

Sentences don’t need to be complex and you can start entire paragraphs with “And” and “Or”. If you’re moving from traditional content to a copywriting role, you don’t need to reference everything you write. What’s more, if you’re used to writing articles but start writing PPC ads, you don’t need to write about the entire business.

Write in whatever way makes sense for your audience and platform at the time, regardless of traditional writing methods. It just needs to fit the brief.

For example, when you’re writing PPC ads, it’s good practice to write in short sentences and list the strongest benefits in bullet points. You wouldn’t do this in the middle of a blog post, but it’s an effective technique when you have limited characters.

See this example:

Good writing makes sense, has good grammar and is full of purpose – and has a lot more personality when it’s free of the constraints of university-level professionalism.

3. Learn from the books you read

Getting your head in a handful of books is great for your writing. It’s unlikely your background will have taught you absolutely everything there is to know, so asking for industry recommendations from colleagues is a good place to start.

Better yet, reading a good book about something you’re genuinely interested in, such as music, true crime, romance and non-fiction, can teach you more about writing than research ever will. It helps you concentrate purely on the words, understand different vocabulary and test different writing styles against your own.

4. Write for someone and their feedback

Writing with someone in mind ensures you don’t overcomplicate your sentences. For instance, if you were explaining PPC management platforms to your housemate, you might say something like “PPC management platforms are designed to help advertisers improve performance across things like Google, Facebook and Microsoft ads.”

You wouldn’t give them a whole run down of each platform, talk about the intuitive tools and give insight into automation. Your content will come across in a much more natural and relaxed tone if you imagine you’re writing for someone you know.

Word of warning: be careful to not confuse this rule with getting rid of details. You can still write a long, informative article or sales page without making it hard to read; writing in a natural tone doesn’t mean being completely informal. You’ll know you’re on the right track if the person you’re writing for gives you good feedback.

What’s more, if you write with conversions in mind, your content will lean much more towards influencing your customers. You’ll convey information in a way that makes them consider your desired action, whether it’s visiting your blog, website or placing an order, and that helps you connect on a deeper level.

See this example on Moz’s homepage:

If they wrote this without thinking about conversions, they might have said “We work in SEO”. But because they want to get new customers onboard, they’re telling them the way they’re doing SEO right now isn’t smart enough.

5. Talk to other writers

This doesn’t necessarily mean networking, but having an everyday conversation when the opportunity arises. Community chats on Twitter are a great example of this – look out for #ContentClubUK at 11 am every Tuesday.

Following other writers on social media makes communication easy. It gives you the chance to understand the way they work, see which tools, platforms and resources they use and look out for their recent content. You can even learn from the way they write in their posts.

You’ll also come to learn that not everything is perfect, especially when trying to navigate Covid-19. See this example from Digital Storyteller Hassam Munir:

Learning from other people’s experiences, mistakes and day-to-day speech can improve your writing more than you realise.

If you find yourself stuck in a rut and need help with the creative process, or maybe a helping hand to work in tandem with on projects, you can find your match here. Adzooma Marketplace makes it easy to connect with the best content marketing agencies and freelance writers.

6. You don’t have to start from the beginning

Intro, middle and end.

This is the structure many people use to write but it isn’t set in stone. Putting pressure on yourself to perfect the start of your blog post, your PPC headlines or the first line of your social media posts can be a huge drawback.

Instead:

• If you can’t think of an intro, start on a different section
• If you can’t think of a headline, use a placeholder for now
• If you don’t know how to write PPC ads, bullet point some benefits

This will help you get your work done quicker, stop worrying about deadlines and get your initial thoughts down on the page, as described in point 1.

Here’s what other writers told me before:

In other words, find what works for you and you will enjoy writing a lot more.

7. Everyone has their own style

Following on from that point, it’s completely normal to have your own writing style. In fact, it’s a good thing. It’s what’s going to set you apart from other people in your industry, including the people you learn from and look up to when you’re starting out.

If you can’t work out what your writing style is, start by analysing different pieces of your content. Look at things you’ve written before, your most recent work and a piece of writing you enjoyed.

Are you present in your writing? Does your writing represent the person you are, but also stretch your capabilities? Reflecting on your work will give you a better understanding of your unique voice and tone so that you can continue to grow on your journey.

And don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’re a business owner and need some blog content or copywriting that you feel is just over your head, you can find a content marketing agency to manage it for you here.

Life as a writer

If you want to convince people to choose your brand and improve visibility on the SERPs, content marketing is an excellent tool to help you get there. 72% of marketers also say that it’s helped increase their engagement and number of leads.

Keep in mind that there isn’t such thing as a perfect content marketing strategy – yours will depend entirely on your business goals.

These techniques would’ve helped me when I started writing, but I’ve also realised that the best writers never stop learning. Use these tips toimprove your style, enhance it with more technical methods and become the strongest writer you can be.

However, consumers have actually become more invested in their communities. A sense of togetherness which hasn’t been seen since wartime now rallies neighbours as they check in on one another. From a search perspective, ‘near me’ searches have continued to grow, and there is a lot of interest in supporting local businesses. In fact, people are looking to shop closer to home with 67% saying they plan to shop more locally during this holiday season.

There is a huge opportunity for physical stores to benefit from this rise in online shopping – it’s just knowing how to take advantage of it. Let’s take a look at how you can bridge the gap between your online and offline marketing.

The need to focus on local digital marketing

New data shows there’s a massive “untapped opportunity” for multi-location brands to market more. With 77% complaining that executing a local-digital marketing strategy across all their stores is very challenging, those who figure out how to do it well have a lot to gain.

There are different challenges depending on what type of business you have. If you’re a franchise, you can be bound by marketing guidelines from national stores. Whilst it’s still your responsibility to bring in local customers, there’s a sense of being part of a bigger team but one that may not be that supportive. Taking the initiative and focusing on what you can do at a local level is important; it helps you to build a rapport with the community and, whilst you may be a big brand, establish yourself as a unique voice in the area you’re in.

Similarly, if you’re a small-medium independent business with a few different locations, creating a sense of unity across multiple stores can be challenging. There’s a general aspiration to improve local marketing effectiveness next year with 61% saying it’s a high priority, but it’s easy to see how this could be repeated the year after that.

The reason multi-location brands have been slow to focus on their local-digital marketing tactics is that it can be difficult to know where to start. In fact, 31% reported they had no locally targeted paid social media strategy. Having the right paid media behind your branding is imperative; whilst you may be a physical store first and foremost, having an online presence is now key to making your in-store experiences more streamlined and successful.

Bridging the gap with strategic hybrids

Developing the right online/in-store strategy for your business obviously requires insights that only you have access to. But the fundamentals of using online campaigns to drive people into your physical store are the same as the aim is to get more foot traffic as a result of online shopping booming.

A huge new trend is the act of researching a product online before going to pick it up in-store. This means that online advertising targets users who then seemingly don’t complete a purchase, but instead do so in person. That’s why it’s important to have the right tracking systems in place to ensure this online to offline jump isn’t missed. It’ll also highlight just how important it is for driving people to your physical location.

Click-and-collect has become hugely popular of late for good reason. It has always had many benefits, but more-so in a COVID world.

Looking online and then heading in-store enables shoppers to:

• Spend less time in-store browsing which reduces risk
• Access more information about a product to make more informed decisions
• Seek reviews and ratings from other users
• Price-check with competitors
• See and feel the physical product before purchasing, without delivery charges
• Speak to staff if they have any questions

If you’re looking to harness the potential of online shopping, pay-per-click ads are a great option. Whether you’re already running campaigns, are unsure of how to set them up or don’t have an online presence at all, Google’s new Local Service Ads are the answer to your problems.

Google’s Local Service Ads

As Google monitors the latest trends, it’s become more and more evident that local advertising is a growing sector. In response, they’ve expanded the features they offer to support small and large businesses with physical locations. Local Service Ads have been designed to boost the visibility of local independent stores and give them access to a wealth of customers. Better yet, you don’t even need a website to be able to use it.

Swerving away from their traditional pay-per-click model, local advertisers only have to pay when a customer contacts them – it’s free to just click the ad. The fact businesses don’t need to have a website to be listed makes Local Service Ads really accessible as 40% of small businesses still don’t have one.

LSAs make it easy for SMBs to gain trust too as their listings are backed by Google’s Guarantee badge. As customer reviews are highly influential, Google has made it easy for users to see what previous customers have to say, the business’ licensing information and how they can get in touch.

The pay-per-lead model makes it easy for less tech-savvy businesses to get on board with the idea and put a toe into the online advertising world. Google has also made it free to list ads on its Shopping Tab, something which previously was reserved for paid placements. Having been trialled in the US since early 2020, results show that businesses taking advantage of this see 50% more visits and average twice as many views.

4 ways online can boost your in-store activity

1. Local business service attributes

These new ad attributes are a practical addition which helps users decide which business is right for them. They’re an easy way for searchers to see what services are on offer e.g dine-in, delivery, contact-less delivery, curb-side pickup and more. They are increasingly important during the pandemic and can really help you stand out from the crowd.

2. Local inventory ads

The markers on shopping ads such as ‘in-store’ or ‘pick up Wednesday’ make it easy for shoppers to transition from online to in-store purchasing. It’s a big persuasive feature for shoppers who don’t want to pay or wait for delivery so can make all the difference when it comes to driving searchers to physical stores.

3. Smart bidding for store sales

This is an extension of smart bidding for store visits and focuses on more than just driving foot traffic. It allows advertisers to upload their physical store data and optimise their ads from it.

This will suit larger businesses due to the volume of data needed but it really lends itself to the trend of researching a product online and buying it offline. This feature also encompasses the popular “click-and-collect” option.

4. PPC optimisation

There’s little point determining a strategy to drive online visitors to your physical store if they aren’t going to see your ads. Ensuring your campaigns are optimised to bring in the best types of customers is the way forward. Free software like Adzooma is designed to help you manage, automate and optimise your online advertising in just a few clicks. And, being completely free, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to help you benefit from online shopping.

Spend the time building a local online presence

It can be tempting to stick to more traditional forms of advertising or not tailor your online ads to a local level, especially if you’re just starting out. But there are untapped opportunities for stores with multiple local locations or small independent businesses to thrive through local search.

Whilst online shopping is more popular than ever because of the convenience and safety it offers, physical stores can offer the same benefits and more, if only it can shout about it in the right way.

Building an online-offline hybrid marketing strategy will ensure your brand, whatever size, prospers in this ever-changing world.

Microsoft has been in the news a lot recently. They’ve just expanded their partnership with Samsung, are looking to take over TikTok’s entire global business and already own Xbox, LinkedIn and Skype. Their Partner Network allows you to advertise on the likes of Amazon, Apple, Gumtree, and other big names.

They’re taking big strides to cover even more bases, and that’s causing people to sit up and pay attention: when it comes to targeted advertising, market-share is a big deal.

For years in the advertising world, Microsoft has been seen as the baby sibling of Google – struggling tirelessly to compete with no real progress. But now, the powerhouse is bringing some serious competition to Google’s door. They’re making their move, and this is how.

1. Microsoft Advertising adds brand safety with IAS partnership

Microsoft has upped its brand safety game by partnering with Integral Ad Science (IAS) to preemptively block Audience Network ads on pages that are deemed moderate or high risk. 

With brand safety a priority for many, this change shows Microsoft to be really helping advertisers find a balance between scale and safety. Now, the IAS will scan, evaluate and rate pages depending on their risk level. This includes categories such as alcohol, drugs, offensive language, hate speech and violence. 

Microsoft’s progressive partnership helps to ensure that campaigns are brand safe and fraud free – something that will be a huge weight off the minds’ of those advertising on the Audience Network. 

2. Incorporating LinkedIn targeting

Microsoft allows you to target audiences based on their LinkedIn profiles. This opens up a whole host of different opportunities for businesses whose target audience are working professionals.

It follows the same setup as other targeting settings, making it easy for users to get to grips with LinkedIn targeting, even if they’ve never used the platform themselves.

Aside from LinkedIn itself, Microsoft is the only platform to be offering this type of targeting – an absolute game-changer once fully rolled out.

3. Making ads visual with image extensions

Microsoft gets a reputation as playing catch up to Google, but this isn’t always true. With some features, such as Image Extensions, they’re way ahead of the game.

Inside Microsoft Ads, you can already add visual elements to your ads. This has only just been put out in a Beta by Google, allowing Microsoft Ads users to take advantage of their hesitation.

Image Extensions are a great way to make your campaigns stand out and give customers a better idea of what to expect when they click; you can add up to six images per ad group, with one being served each time.

The best bit? It’s a free extension, so try it on your ads today and see how your CTR improves.

4. Encouraging immediate action with action extensions

Another feature exclusive to Microsoft is their Action Extensions. It gives users the ability to add a clear CTA to text ads and entice more people to click – Beta testing showed an increased CTR of 20%.

Available for both desktop and mobile, those advertising on Microsoft can choose from 70 pre-defined Action Extensions to best suit their business.

Your CPC is the same whether a user clicks on your ad headline or Action Extension, and they can also be shown alongside other ad extensions, so you have nothing to lose by adding them to your campaigns.

5. Introducing their Digital Marketing Center

Microsoft is striving to make managing your online presence easier with their Digital Marketing Center.

Understanding that most advertisers use multiple platforms to reach their customers, Microsoft has created a free search and social campaign management platform. It’s designed with SMBs in mind and aims to tackle the time-consuming nature of running multiple accounts.

This AI-driven platform helps to centralise your paid and organic social as well as your paid advertising. For those short on time, Microsoft’s DMC can be a lifesaver as advertisers can set goals, targeting and budgets and then leave their AI to power the rest.

It doesn’t offer as many opportunities or features as the Adzooma platform, but as a standalone piece of software, it’s pretty useful.

6. Making experimenting easier with cookie-based options

Last year, Microsoft rolled out its Experiments feature to make testing campaign changes easier than ever. Since then, they’ve been adding new options to give users more ways to freshen up their PPC strategies – we all know how stale even the strongest performers can go.

The latest feature to be added to Experiments is a cookie-based specification. This refreshing feature ‘remembers’ which version of a split test a user was previously shown, and will only show that version every time they search.

Previously, a new search by the same user could show another option as it was treated as a new user.

The introduction of cookies here allows for more accurate results when running creative tests.

If you’re looking for further ways to liven up your PPC strategy, getting an agency on your side through our Marketplace has proven to get businesses great results.

7. Promoting fast indexing with URL submissions plugin

Microsoft have released a new WordPress plugin which integrates any WP site with their Bing Webmaster Tools URL submission API. Basically, it automatically submits any new or updated content to the search engine for fast indexing.

Whilst this is something which larger businesses have been able to do for themselves, the plugin opens things up to everyone – yet another example of how Microsoft is quietly championing smaller businesses.

8. Working on double key data encryption

The search giant isn’t afraid to spend time building industry-specific technology either; their Double Key Encryption has just entered public review. In 2019, over 60% of leaked records were from finance organisations and healthcare services saw an increase of 37% in data breaches. So Microsoft is doing something about it.

The Double Key Encryption security method allows you to protect highly sensitive data whilst keeping full control of your encryption key.

Because it utilises two keys, one stored with you and the other in Microsoft Azure, even Microsoft themselves can’t view your data as only you have access to both keys.

The feature is designed specifically for highly regulated industries such as those who were hit hardest by last year’s data breaches, or those who store data in the cloud. With data protection at the forefront of many businesses’ minds, it’s good to see Microsoft providing high-tech solutions for such an important issue.

A smart growth plan

Microsoft is offering its users more and more. Whilst it may not be the biggest player in the game, it’s making some strategic move to challenge the king.

There’s a lot to be learnt from their smart growth plan; by taking advantage of the great things they’re putting out, you can not only strengthen your online advertising but also stride ahead of your competition.

Set up your Microsoft Ads account today or run your current campaigns through Adzooma to see what other areas you could improve – completely free, of course.

Data and decision making

We all use data in our day-to-day decision making.

We use data from our senses to navigate through the world. Data from our eyes and ears goes to our brain to be processed.

We trust the data that we receive – otherwise we wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or go to the bank. In fact, we are conditioned to trust the information that is provided to us.

We have similar trust in the data that is provided to us in a business context – and that can lead to problems sometimes.

We trust the numbers that we see on reports, the tools that we use and the people we work with.

Moreover, we trust this information without understanding how the data is collected and processed, and without all the relevant context.

Therefore, so we can trust the data we see we have to audit our Web Analytics data.

The cost of mistakes

The cost of making bad decisions based on poor data can be huge.

In fact, the estimated cost of bad data in the US is $3.1 trillion per year.

You can see for yourselves the cost of mistakes that were the results of bad or incomplete data:

NASA Mars Orbiter – Mission failure and financial loss

In 1999, NASA lost the Mars Climate Orbiter after being years in the planning and 9 months into space. A conflict between imperial and metric measurements caused the spacecraft to lose course and break in Mars atmosphere—a loss of $327,600,000.

Data insight: This is a system integration and data processing issue – two critical systems were using different measurement units, without a proper conversion.

New Coke Launch – Partial data is worse than no data?

In 1985, Coca Cola decided to replace the classic Coke recipe with a new formula. Coca Cola invested heavily in the campaign, but the new drink proved to be very unpopular – causing declining sales and up to 8,000 angry customer calls a day.
Coca Cola back-tracked and returned to original formula after 79 days.

Data Insight: Coca Cola did thorough market research about the taste of the new formula, but didn’t take into account other factors in the customers’ purchasing decision. So they had accurate but partial data – data presented not within the wider context.

What does bad data look like in digital marketing?

I’m going to look at 3 examples—one from each of the main areas of the customer journey: Acquisition, Engagement and Conversion.

1. Loss of Traffic Source

Measuring Acquisition: (Lesson in good-practice – why you should check your tracking before you start a campaign)

You launch a big campaign, using Paid Advertising, Social, and Email to send people to a state-of-the-art landing page, designed and built by a highly rated agency.

But in the process you are redirecting people to a different page on your site, and the redirect does not carry over the traffic source the user arrived from.

Those people will be tagged as ‘Direct’ traffic, and in some cases will start a new visit to the site. As a result, none of the conversions, sales etc. can be attributed to any particular Marketing Channel.

You will not be able to accurately calculate ROI or ROAS (return on ad spend) or check how well the landing page is working for each marketing channel.

Data insight: This is mainly a process issue – as part of the preparations for the campaign launch the Web Analytics tracking should have been checked. The technical challenge is minimal.

Similar issues: Loss of traffic source can happen in other scenarios, for example when using a social login (‘sign in with Facebook’), or when using a third party payment gateway (e.g. PayPal).

To fix: A Web Analytics audit should include a review of good practice and tagging processes as well as checking the quality of data and implementation.

2. Page Names Variations – Measuring Engagement

Many e-commerce platforms (e.g. Shopify) will ‘give’ product pages a different page url and therefore page name, based on the route the visitor took to get to this page.

One of our clients had 33 tracked versions of the same product page:

In another case, only 55% of the visitors landing on a homepage were captured in Google Analytics without page name variations – the other 45% were split across 2,029 homepage variations:

The impact of having page name ‘inflation’ can be serious for conversion rate optimisation (CRO).

It causes a huge headache when trying to do any navigational or behavioural analysis, for example to find out where do visitors go to from the homepage.

Data insights: There are two issues here:

1. Implementation / data collection – the page name is captured ‘as is’ on every page url. No overriding naming convention was applied.
2. Analytics setup issue – Google Analytics was not configured to remove irrelevant bits from the page name.

Similar issues: With product names, it is critical to capture the name excluding size and colour variations – if the product name changes in the checkout process you won’t be able to report and improve the full purchase journey.

To fix: Apply a robust naming convention to page tracking, using the datalayer. Additionally, check your data regularly, so you can spot and manage changes before they become an serious issue.

3. Conversion – Measuring Intent vs. Success.

(A lesson in tracking expertise, a single source of truth and conflict between two companies)

We were asked by a client to reconcile the difference between the apparent success of a Facebook Ads campaign, as claimed by their agency, and the lack of such success evident in Google Analytics.

The purpose of the campaign was to acquire new users, and the main conversion target was the creation of new accounts.

The agency claimed XX% Conversion Rate for the campaign, but the client saw much lower results in Google Analytics and their back-end platform (actual accounts created).

After investigation we discovered the following:

1. The conversion success metric that was set by the agency on Facebook Ads was people reaching the account setup page.
   The success metric captured in Google Analytics and that mattered to the client was actual accounts created.
2. In addition, the client assigned a monetary value to accounts created according to the type of account. The agency was not able to set up a dynamic value for conversion as the value is set AFTER reaching the account setup page.

Data insights: Technically, this is an Analytics setup issue – the same interaction should have been selected as a conversion success. However, it touches on a lot of good-practice process and communication between the client and the agency. After all, marketing agencies have a vested interest in showing good results.

Similar issues: Google Ads, email, CRM, and other analytics platforms can all track and report on performance. Each system is set up implemented and maintained separately, so there are many pitfalls to be wary of.

To fix: An important part of a Web Analytics audit is to check that data from all your digital eco-system platforms are congruent. This includes checking that the systems are integrated correctly—both on a technical level and on process / practice level.

A data review before the campaign started and a regular review of the data would have revealed the issue before it became a relationship problem between the companies.

Of course, there are many more possible data issues that a web analytics audit can reveal:

And last few words on data audit

I hope we can all agree that Data Audits are essential but for a Data Audit to be successful and effective it has to be comprehensive and thorough.

To achieve that you’ll have to:

Include all relevant platforms and data sets used by the business

This includes access to platforms and the teams that use them. To do that you’ll have to engage all sides of the business, from tech to operations and marketing.

Look at data in the context of how it is collected, processed and mainly how it is used by the business.

For example – it might be important for a business to collect Net Revenue (excluding tax and shipping) as opposed to Revenue (inclusive of all). Revenue might be collected and processed perfectly, but in this case not useful to the client.

Look at data in the context of users’ behaviour.

The data we use represents users’ behaviour, but may be misleading if we don’t know the behavioural context. So as well as using technology to audit your data it’s really important to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Practically, it means you have to emulate your customer’s journey and interactions to understand what the data you collect means. For example – the data says Social channel converts very well, but when you emulate your customer’s journey you see that your registration form is so bad people prefer to register with their Google account, giving ‘Social’ the credit for traffic that originally arrived from a different source.

Impartiality

Make sure the Data Audit is performed by an impartial party, ideally new to your setup. Use fresh eyes to get a thorough investigation and a fair evaluation of the state of your data.