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Insanely Improve Your Google Ads: The HAMMER Method [Case Study]

23/1/2020

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You've been running Google Ads (Adwords) for months, but the performance has been... underwhelming. You've tried variations of ad copy and you're getting clicks, but none of these seem to be turning into conversions... 

  • What's next?
  • How do you improve the performance and turn clicks into conversions?
  • How can you optimise and not just 'spend more money' or 'add more keywords'?

This article sets out a planned approach to answer all of the above and help you do your own Adwords audit.

So, pick up your hammer and keep reading.

** This guide is intermediate level so some basic concepts are not covered
Picture
​Skip ahead to section:​
  • What is the Adwords HAMMER Method?
  • The Problem
  • ​Applying the HAMMER Method
  • ​Our Results​
  • What's Next?
  • Final Thoughts and Tips

What is the HAMMER Method?

The HAMMER method is a sustainable long term Adwords strategy that focuses on improving the overall health and quality of Google Adwords account structure and campaign(s) performance to lower costs and increase conversions.

This is achieved by targeting better quality leads (and audiences) with ads and driving these down the path to conversion.

​The HAMMER Method:
  1. High-level account housekeeping
  2. Analytics - connect and ensure conversion tracking is working
  3. Macro account factors
  4. Micro account factors
  5. Evaluate after 14 days
  6. Repeat steps 3 - 5 (also Report)
'MC Hammer' Image
The incorrect HAMMER method

The Problem

A client approached us with a common problem; their Adwords campaigns were getting a lot of ad clicks but not many of these clicks were converting into leads on their website.

Going under the hood, we found a mix of campaign types, mismatched targeting, lack of negative keywords, an inconsistent landing page experience and many more areas that could be improved for better Adwords performance.

Applying the HAMMER Method

1. High-level account housekeeping
Some of this might seem like common sense, but:
​
  • Clean up / remove any old campaigns, ads or ad groups. Delete duplicates, if any.
  • Organise your account based on common themes and a logical structure
    ​Usually the easiest way is to follow the structure of your website and structure the account Campaign > Ad Group > Ads (*see below image, or this video from Google)
  • Check your account access and make sure any old access is removed
  • Confirm billing and business information is up to date
  • Pause any bad campaigns for now if you are worried about bleeding budget
  • If you are managing multiple accounts, ideally do this through a Manager or 'MCC' account
Example Adwords account structure
Example of Adwords Account structure (from: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/03/06/adwords-account-structure)
2. Analytics - connect and ensure conversion tracking is working
Link your Adwords account with your Google Analytics account to gain additional visibility both ways. Most importantly, get access to your conversion goals from Google Analytics to track them in Adwords, enable target CPA bidding and other useful features.

If you haven't set up conversion goals in Google Analytics yet, this is an important first step!

Tip: Google Tag Assistant is a simple Chrome extension that can help you see what code is/isn't working.
3. Macro account factors
Start by looking for LARGE problems that have the greatest bearing on your campaigns overall.
Or, think 'things that can destroy an entire Adwords campaign performance if they are not right'.

Some examples of Adwords 'macro factors':

  • Bid type: Decide between manual or automated bid types and understand the difference

  • Budget: Check in on this and ensure you're spending within your means

  • Ad scheduling: Are you serving ads at 2am on Tuesdays? Tighten your ad scheduling to the days that matter to your business. Ideally, look for clues in the ad schedule report data to see which times are most effective and double down on those with a bid adjustment.

    Likewise, do the opposite for days and times that convert poorly and either use a negative bid adjustment or turn ads off during those times.

  • ​Location targeting: Are you targeting too wide an area? If so, tighten your targeting.

    Also, try segmenting your target area to give you more data about how different audiences perform and give you more options to change later (E.g. If you're targeting the entire country, try segmenting by state to see which performs better)

  • Devices: Look for clues here and set bid adjustments accordingly. Also try to think in your customers' shoes - what are they likely to be doing when searching for your product? Sitting on the couch at home (mobile/tablet), at their desk at work (desktop) or on their way to work (mobile)?
Picture
  • Landing pages: Nothing is worse than getting that all-important click only to send that person to a broken, poorly-designed or mismatched landing page that doesn't meet the expectations of the ad that they've just clicked on... "I thought I was getting free tickets... why am I at some weird home page?"

    Ensure the experience is consistent (which should also help your Adwords quality score), keep the page simple and optimised - make it easy for the user to complete the intended conversion action when they get there, not difficult. And don't forget mobile!
Key elements of a good landing page
From: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33927/11-simple-but-critical-tips-for-creating-better-landing-pages.aspx
4. Micro account factors
Once the big stuff is taken care of, then it's time to dig deeper into the detail and check on the SMALL things and bring it home.

Some examples of Adwords 'micro factors':
​

  • Keywords: Of course keywords are important. There are many great guides written on keyword research so we won't go into detail, but in general - choose a smaller number of keywords that are specific and relevant to your business rather than going for too much of a scattershot approach. Avoid single word phrases.

    Pay attention to branded Vs non-branded keywords and even split these into separate campaigns or ad groups since branded keywords can often skew reports (if someone is searching for your brand, are they more likely to click on your ad?)

  • Keyword match types: Consider splitting your campaigns into a combo of exact match ('EM') and broad match modified ('BMM') with the EM negatives added to the BMM ad groups. This doubles down on your EM keywords and is great when you have a good keyword list that's likely to convert. Adding these as EM negatives to the BMM campaign reduces cannibalisation between ad groups and ensures only one ad competes and fires for that keyword when searched.

  • The 'Search Terms' report: Check this regularly to see what keywords are actually triggering your ads. Great as both a source of more keywords to add to your list OR to see bad keywords and variants that you want to add as negatives.

  • Negative keywords: Update and maintain regularly. This can also be a 'macro' factor if done as a list through the shared library, which is a good best practice as it allows you to share the negative keyword list between accounts.

  • Demographics: Drill down here and see which age groups are converting or giving better value. If there's a particular standout age group, consider segmenting it into a separate ad group with more personalised ad copy and/or creative that will appeal to that audience. Consider pausing age groups that are under-performing.
Adwords demographics report
The demographics report
It's best to target a smaller group of quality, relevant keywords and do it really well than to target a large group of keywords and do it badly "
  • Audiences: Look for any audiences that represent your brand/product well. If you're unsure, set these audiences to 'observation' initially to see if they perform any better than than the control group - once you have more data you can set them to 'target' if the results are positive.

    ​Consider building similar audiences from visitors who have taken a particular action on your website. Again, you can set these to 'observe' initially and gauge the results (note: Adwords will automatically start a similar audience from any audience that you create).
Adwords audiences
Adwords audiences
Also try custom audiences if you have a large pool of customer data that you can upload directly into Adwords and build similar audiences from.
​

Look for clues in Google Analytics on affinity or in-market audiences and see how these perform - look for any outliers and even consider custom ad copy / creative if any of them really stand out (e.g. 'Pet Lovers').

Also check out life event audiences such as 'moving house' which may be relevant to your brand or product.

Tip: As well as targeting audiences, also think about excluding them when appropriate. 
E.g. People who have just submitted an enquiry form on your website.
Google Analytics affinity audiences screenshot
Google Analytics affinity audiences
  •  Ad copy and creative: This is a topic all by itself. In general, try at least 3-5 different variations of each ad, experiment with compelling ad copy and make it relevant to the offer you are presenting. Include keywords to boost ad rank. Keep within the Google guidelines.
    ** Check out this Wordstream article for more tips on writing effective headlines.

    ​Also try Dynamic Keyword Insertion, but in small doses and NOT with a competitor brand targeted ad group - you don't want the competitor's name to be inserted!

    Test with Responsive Ads for both Display and Search. Enter multiple headlines and descriptions (for search), or upload a number of different assets (for display) and over time, Google Ads will automatically test and learn which combinations perform best (as well as resizing the creative to fit any display size).

    Or, if you are running a e-commerce site, upload your product feed in Google Merchant Center and experiment with ​Dynamic Display Ads

  • Placements and Themes (for display ads): Check these reports and look for clues. Modify, double-down or exclude where its appropriate.

  • Remarketing: Don't use the same generic ads for remarketing. Think that these people have already been to your website - make the offer more pointed or add some urgency (just don't be creepy... "we see you've been to our website...")

    If you have remarketing campaigns mixed in with your others, keep in mind that remarketing tends to convert at a higher % and could skew results if you're looking at a combined dashboard.
5. Evaluate after 14 days
Armed with all of these tips, you've gone and made some changes. Now, it's best to wait at least 7-14 days to see the results of any changes to your campaigns (or even a little longer if you can afford the time). 

Additionally - it might be tempting to keep making bulk changes. But once you've hit a good baseline, it's best to keep changes to one at a time so you can objectively see the results and effect without overlap and cross-contamination of your results.
6. Repeat steps 3 - 5 (also Report)
Keep working through steps 3 - 5 and as above, limit changes to one, or a few, at a time. 

Finally the all-important bit comes... Report on your amazing results! 

Our Results

This article was originally titled '10X your Adwords CTR...' but we decided that was a little too click-batey...

As for the results we achieved with the HAMMER method... it was actually closer to an 11.5X improvement for one client, so 10X is still being conservative :)
Google Adwords CTR improvement screenshot

​Lead quality also improved, reducing Adwords spend, increasing conversion rate by 58% on lead forms and overall, improving Google Adwords campaign ROI for the client.

​
But "clicks were down!" we hear some of you say. And yes, clicks did reduce - but this was a good thing. 

In Adwords (as with most PPC), clicks are what you pay for, so you want them to count.

​Prior to the Adwords performance improvements we made, many of these clicks weren't converting into leads or enquiries and the client was simply blowing budget on vanity metrics that seemed impressive.

What's Next?

After the campaigns were optimised with the HAMMER method, this gave the client a solid base to work from. They could now either expand the existing campaigns, add new campaigns or increase budget with the extra available headroom they now had.

Or, they could sit back and enjoy the financial savings and spend less, of course... :)

​The HAMMER method creates a custom, scalable solution that maximises the value of clicks to ensure that budget isn't wasted now or moving forward.

Final Thoughts and Tips

It might seem daunting at first, but if you take the time, there are almost always better ways to improve Google Adwords performance than spending more money or adding more keywords.

Take care dealing with Google support calls or suggestions from within the Adwords interface. Whilst these may seem helpful, Google is still a money-making business. The easiest 'solution' will often be to increase budget.

Similarly, the list of keywords you could potentially add is almost endless. But this isn't Pokemon and you don't need to add them all.

Keywords with higher search volume might seem better at face value, but ultimately you should focus on the keywords that are most relevant and specific to your business.
​

Have any of your own tips to add, or feedback on how some of these techniques worked for you? We'd love to hear from you in the comments.

Icon - Adwords audit

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8 (Mostly) Free Digital Marketing Courses & Training Resources Online

16/1/2020

5 Comments

 

 ** Updated for 2020 **

(1:30 min read)
It's no secret - Digital Marketing moves fast. Keeping up to date can be challenging. 

Thankfully, in 2020 there are a number of well respected and (mostly) free digital marketing courses and training resources available online which are both easily accessible and contain highly current and relevant information.
Training - Girl at Gym Image
In places like our home city of Perth, offline digital marketing courses and official training events are a bit scarce, making the option of online training not only quite attractive, but a must-do in order to keep ahead of current trends in the industry.

Whether you are considering upskilling your existing marketing staff or looking into a digital marketing course yourself, we've compiled a clear and easy to reference list of 8 of the best online training resources to check out in 2020.

8 (Mostly) Free Online Courses with certificate of completion as noted

Hubspot Academy logo
1. Hubspot Academy
In 2020 Hubspot continues to be a powerhouse of content production, as well as providing excellent free training resources through their Hubspot Academy. Still some of the most up-to-date training material available online today, with certificates of completion to be renewed every 1-2 years.
Provider
Hubspot
Free/Paid?
Free

Certification
Yes​, including certificate of completion.
Content / Level

Hours of detailed, high quality video resources covering trending industry topics such as Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, Growth Driven Design ('GDD') and more. 
Hootsuite Academy Logo
Hootsuite remain a trusted source for social media specialists - with platform training as well as an assortment of both free and paid social media specialisations, there is something here for everyone.
2. Hootsuite Academy
Provider
Hootsuite
Free/Paid?
​Free content. Certifications from $199
Certification
Yes​, including certificate of completion.
Content / Level

Social Media Marketing on a basic and advanced level, Hootsuite platform training
​(Hootsuite is a platform for scheduling and managing social media accounts)
Google Skillshop logo
3. Google Skillshop
Google Partners. No... Academy for Ads. No... Skillshop :)
​
Identity crisis aside, after several rebrands and a huge overhaul of the UI, Google Skillshop remains the best place to get free Adwords certification in 2020 with certificate of completion renewed every 12 months.

​Start with Adwords Fundamentals then move into one of the areas of specialisation such as display, search, mobile, shopping  or video. Where else to get it but the source?
Provider
Google
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Yes, most ​including certificate of completion.​
Content / Level

Fundamentals through to advanced certifications for Google Adwords and Analytics as well as short form training resources via their LMS.​

** From late 2019 - Google Academy for Ads content has been moved to Skillshop
The digital garage - logo
4. The Digital Garage (by Google)
Provider
Google, IAB Europe
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Yes​
Content / Level

Free entry-level courses on everything from search to social media, to help you grow your business or career.
Hands on course content aimed at those starting out and wanting to either broaden their skills or strengthen the fundamentals with 125 online courses and counting. They even have local coaching available in some areas.
Wordstream - logo
5. Wordstream's PPC University
Everything PPC from the basics to more advanced topics that you won't cover in Google's Adwords training. Wordstream also provide a ton of info in the form of case studies and whitepapers to back up their advice.
Provider
Wordstream
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
No​
Content / Level

Everything you could possibly need to know about creating PPC / Adwords ads - beginner to advanced level.
Udemy logo
6. Udemy
Udemy is undeniably a massive online resource of training and course content. Check the individual courses and do your research on whoever is providing the course content. Some of these can be less 'official' than other trusted sources such as Google and certifications not as valuable or well recognised.
Provider
Various
Free/Paid?
​Varies (some are free)​
Certification
Varies​, some including certificate of completion.
Content / Level

An online education hub with courses on pretty much anything. Over 45000 courses and 15 million students.
Moz Logo
7. Moz
Moz are one of the few independent trusted authorities on SEO outside of Google themselves.
​Check out their SEO learning center or their SEO certification.
Provider
Moz
Free/Paid?
Free
Certification
Yes
Content / Level

​Moz a consistently great source of digital marketing (primarily SEO and content marketing) info, broken into beginner and advanced sections. Their blog and 'whiteboard Fridays' have become legendary.
Facebook Blueprint Logo
8. Facebook Blueprint
As you would expect, the authoritative source for all things Facebook and Instagram.
Provider
Facebook
Free/Paid?
​Free content. Certifications from $400.
Certification
Yes​, including certificate of completion.​
Content / Level

​The official resource for Facebook and Instagram advertising. Content via LMS, extensive video resources and practice exams are free.
Every effort is taken to ensure this list remains up to date and current. Information is provided on behalf of third party providers and are not affiliates of MACH Digital. Logos used are property copyright of their respective companies.

If you notice any of the info above has changed, is incorrect, or have any of your own resources to suggest/add please let us know.
Interested in Personalised, On Demand Digital Marketing Training? 
See Our Current Courses
5 Comments

8 Important Tips: Working With a Digital/Marketing Agency

20/3/2018

1 Comment

 
​
To the uninitiated, working with a digital marketing agency can be a daunting idea. Some of us have been burnt by digital/marketing agencies that promise the world but seem to fall short when it comes time to deliver.

On the agency side - in some ways - it's an unregulated battlefield where only the strongest survive.

Working agency-side for over 16 years, we've seen the best and the worst.

Here are some tips on what to expect when you're working with a digital or marketing agency and importantly - how to get the best outcomes.
Feature image - important tips for working with a digital agency

Know What to Expect:
​Working Together for the Best Outcomes

If things go well - you and your digital agency should form a long term, highly productive relationship. Like any relationship, this one requires consistent communication, collaboration and (sometimes) a bit of compromise.

1. Build From a Foundation of Trust
​

The digital/marketing agency should be viewed as part of your team. Like any staff/team member, this relationship should be built on TRUST which ultimately equals transparency, sharing the bad news along with the good and ideally a 'no BS' attitude. 

​It's important to question when questions are due. However, if the relationship is built on a foundation of 'trying to catch them out not doing the right thing', then - much like a relationship in real life - it's unlikely that things will work out well (or perhaps there was a bigger problem to start with?).


If you're really in serious doubt, consider speaking to an independent consultant to get unbiased advice.

What's Expected from the Agency?

2. Transparency, transparency, transparency.

It's a complicated industry....
​
Rather than trying to understand 
everything, trust for your digital/marketing agency will certainly be required at some point. The key to that critical trust is a foundation built on honesty and transparency.

The digital agency should ideally be able to:
​
  • Itemise the hours for any estimate or quote and explain how the hours were estimated or used (one small caveat: things do sometimes take much longer that you might expect in web development. For example, adding that 'one little box' on a form could actually take several hours of work!).

  • In search marketing / SEO - it is important to note that 'the sun doesn't always shine'. Both you and your agency are at Google's mercy (this Moz page shows how many times Google updates it's algorithm or 'changes it's mind on how it will prioritise and rank sites'). Sometimes everything is 'technically' done right but it takes longer to have effect, or doesn't have the desired outcome.

    ​At very least the agency should be able to show 'we did this many hours and carried out these tasks with X results' (and explain the rationale behind WHY they did those things).

  • Provide meaningful reporting and be able to explain the results (good or bad). Event tracking should be set up to record 'conversions' on your site - events that have value for your business (such as a quote form submit, a document download, a video play, a purchase etc.)

** Note: Beware of distraction metrics in reports (i.e. agencies should not be reporting on 'hits' these days)

3. Ask Questions If You're Really Unsure 

​For example:
  • What do these visits mean?
  • Why haven't the visits converted into leads?
  • Are these visits the right type of traffic?
  • Is there an issue with your website form or landing page? Are we targeting correctly in the first place? OR is there some other internal reason that leads aren't converting? (i.e. Your advertised price is too high? Customers are getting turned off for some other reason)
A good digital agency should be able to answer all of your questions.
If they don't have the answers on the spot, they should do the research/check the data and find the answer for you.

What's Expected from You?

4. Be Clear on Expectations (from Both Sides)
This is a partnership, remember? You will only get the most out of the partnership if both sides are willing to participate.
​
  • In short: Your input is important.
  • 'But aren't they the experts?'
  • Yes, agencies can provide expert advice on the points above, but nobody understands your business, industry, goals and challenges as much as YOU.

Be prepared to give your agency the information and input they need to market your uniqueness effectively, accurately target your campaigns and ultimately deliver the best ROI for your business.

A few key points:

5. Provide Timely Feedback

One of the biggest delays to digital projects lies in feedback stages. Aim to respond quickly with feedback, proactively review any milestone stages, provide missing assets promptly (images, content) and ask questions early, 'what resources will they need from you to carry out a successful campaign?'.  

6. Provide Clear Feedback

Nominate one internal stakeholder to act as a liaison between your business and the agency. That person should act as a filter for any internal conflict and only relay the final decision and comments to the agency.

Internal indecisiveness (also read 'changing your mind') delays projects, costs more and gives everyone grey hair in the process. 

Would you build a house then decide you want to change the colour of bricks? No? Try to think of digital projects in a similar way - it's not always a matter of hitting 'undo' and going back can be difficult.

7. Act As a Conduit 

​
Collaboration with your internal team members, vendors or departments will usually be crucial. Often (for security reasons), vendors won't provide sensitive information to a third party/agency.

​So do what you can to facilitate things from your end and keep things moving along.

8. Be Realistic 

When can you expect to start seeing results?

This is an important question that can help to set the right expectations. Depending on the size of the project, the number of projects being worked on by the agency at that point in time and the resources available, things can take time.

On SEO... results don’t happen overnight - it can take several weeks for a website to be crawled and fully re-indexed, or to see the flow-through effect of off-site changes
​
​ All of these points will ultimately assist with faster and more effective delivery of your project.

In Conclusion

With a bit of shared knowledge, preparation and setting the right expectations on both sides, a strong agency partnership can be a real benefit to any business. ​
Adapted (with permission) from 11 Insider Tips: How to Get Best Results from Your Digital Agency
1 Comment

Why SEO is (still) Important for Businesses in 2018... Big or Small

18/1/2018

0 Comments

 
​
(3 min read)
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can be all too easily dismissed by smaller businesses as 'something the big guys do'.

We're amongst the first to agree that SEO may not be the best solution in all cases (a lot of which comes down to budget, goals and your starting point) but even so, SEO undeniably has a place.

​Even in 2018 amidst cries from some that "SEO is dead", the fundamentals of SEO in some ways hold truer than ever. Turning a blind eye and thinking that SEO doesn't matter or that it doesn't apply to me could end in disaster for your business.
Feature image - Why SEO is Important for Businesses

What is SEO in 2018? (the short version)

It's not black magic or a secret science, but... what on Earth is SEO these days?

Is it...
  • ​Market research? Keyword research?
  • Technical optimisation work behind the scenes?
  • Is it copy writing and great content? 
  • Building links and authority?
  • Website usability and great user experience that is mobile friendly?
  • Presenting a highly positive and credible image to potential customers? 

The answer is a resounding 'YES' to all of the above.
Yes image thumbs up

Why is SEO Important to My Local Business?

1. Customers are mobile and looking for your business

It's no secret these days that almost everyone is online and mobile.
​
Around 94% of people use Google to search in Australia (not Yellow Pages etc.) and around 92% worldwide in recent stats.

Is your business visible in Google for those people searching?

2. Local users expect local results

​In a recent Google survey:
  • 85% of smartphone users have searched for local info
  • 81% have taken action as a result
  • 40% visited the store in person
  • 35% called a business after searching

Is your business locally optimised for local users?

3. It's happening around you anyway 

Even if you are not actively 'doing SEO', people are talking about your business, leaving reviews etc.

How would it affect your business if the first thing users saw when searching for your business by name was a series of terrible reviews and a blog post discussing how bad your products are?

Wouldn't you want to show up in Google ABOVE those negative things?
Photo of old man - Bob the mechanic
"Looks like your car needs a-servicin'"

Meet Bob the Mechanic (may not be his real name)

A brief (and completely fictitious) example to explain SEO...
​
Case 1: 
Bob opens an auto repair business
​
  • But, he does it in the middle of the desert…
  • His shop is quite nice and he has some of the latest tools
  • But nobody is connected to him and nobody can find him
​Case 2: Bob opens his workshop on a busy street corner filled with cars...
​
  • Bob is seen by many people passing by
  • Bob puts up a big sign to promote his 24 hour emergency service
  • Bob gets referrals from other local businesses and happy customers

Which situation would you prefer for your business?

But, Is SEO Right for My Business?

There are a lot of considerations which we cover in detail in this article.

At any level, it's important to give thought to:
  • Your budget
  • Your goals
  • Timeframe in which you need to see results (4-12 months+)
  • Competition from ads
  • Big competitors
  • Your starting position (do you already have a well established website, or are you starting from zero?)
  • ​Choosing the right SEO partner

Still not sure where to start? Perhaps consider seeking some unbiased, independent advice.

Using SEO to Grow Your (Small) Business

Check out our presentation on Slideshare for even more info relevant to businesses big and small along with a completely free download:
0 Comments

How to Edit Seasonal Business Hours on Google (Christmas Special)

3/12/2017

0 Comments

 
​
What if a customer took the time to search for your business; they found you on Google, confirmed your opening hours, looked you up on on Google Maps and drove to your store...

... only to find out that you were closed?


Don't risk losing customers this Christmas. Properly update business hours on your Google My Business page.
Seems obvious, right? You might be surprised how many businesses forget this simple step.

If not done right, this either shows a warning message for users searching, or even worse - leaves customers turning up at your door only to find out that you are closed. 


We cover the essentials below in time for Christmas and New Year.
How to edit seasonal hours on Google My Business - Feature Image
Don't risk losing customers by showing the wrong hours on your Google My Business page

Your 'Google My Business' Hours

A Google My Business page has become an important point of contact for customers searching your local bricks-and-mortar business. Customers use the info in Google My Business to check reviews, find your store location on Google Maps, get your phone number or see your opening hours.
​
Importantly, local users expect local info to be up to date.

Whether it's Christmas, New Year, Diwali, or any other seasonal break, it's easy to keep your opening hours up to date. This can be done easily in Google My Business ahead of time and doesn't require scrambling around on the day to change and change back.
Local user search stats graphic

3 Ways to Update Your Seasonal/Special Hours

There are 3 ways you can update your hours depending on your situation:
​
  1. Online Via Google My Business Admin Section
    Sign in to Google My Business and update the details directly under the 'Special Hours' section.
  2. Online via Spreadsheet/CSV file
    The best option if you manage multiple locations -
    Sign in to Google My Business, download all of your listings as a spreadsheet, add special hours by specific date and re-upload the sheet to Google My Business. Your special hours will show on Google only for the days specified.  
  3. On Mobile
    A shorter version of point 1 - on the “Edit business info” screen, scroll down and tap Add special hours.​
A few additional notes from Google:
  • If you schedule special hours, your regular hours remain in place for all other days.
  • If you schedule special hours for an official holiday, users will be told that those hours are scheduled specifically for the holiday. If a location doesn't provide special hours for these days on Google My Business, users on Maps and Search will be warned that the location's hours may differ on designated holidays.
    ​It's a good idea to confirm your hours for official holidays even if those hours are the same as your regular hours. This way, you'll make it clear to customers that your holiday hours are accurate.
  • If your special hours extend into the next day, you should break the hours into two sets.
​The full article from Google My Business Support is here
A lot of time and effort is spent on Local SEO these days.
​Don't forget this simple last step and risk losing or frustrating customers this Christmas.
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Is Weebly Good for SEO? [Answered] - Tips, Case Study

12/11/2017

8 Comments

 
​
With over 20 years of web development experience, we often get asked... 'why on Earth did we choose Weebly to build our latest website?'

​Importantly - 
  • Is Weebly any good for SEO?
  • Can sites built on platforms like Weebly or Wix actually rank well and show up on Google? (and how hard is to get them to page one?)

Here we set out to answer these questions, sharing our own 6 month journey from launching a brand new website to page one rankings.
Picture

The Rise of Online Website Builders

A topic that regularly has web developers up-in-arms is the debate over using a free or paid website builder versus a custom built website. 

Even as recently as a few years back, this debate was much easier to win. But these days, online website builders such as Weebly are more advanced than ever. Even if going with the argument that 'some website is better than no website' - using one of these online builders is often far preferable over paying a freelancer to create a (potential) mess of HTML that could break with the next browser update or get hacked.

​Even Google agree that these days 'you don't need to know how to code to build a great website'.

​Along with their latest free 'website builder' offering as part of Google My Business - there are a number of website builders that make it to Google's 'recommended list' on Google Domains: Weebly, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and Blogger.
Screen shot - Google Domains
Website builders list - Screenshot from https://domains.google.com
Why We Chose Weebly Over a Custom Build

1. It's Fast to Set Up
Once we'd decided on the site structure and content, setting up the 6 page Weebly site took less than a day to get up and running (and a fair chunk of this time was spent on custom icons/images and SEO housekeeping).

2. It Just Works
Even the excellent Wordpress is far from 'plug-and-play' and requires some developer knowledge to really get the best out of it.
If you're only customising one of the base themes in Weebly, it really is difficult to break it. Also massive time savings on cross browser testing and mobile testing here.

3. Security
​We're targeting Wordpress* again here (perhaps unfairly), since it is often the subject of hack attempts. With builders like Weebly, the security is taken care of since the entire solution is hosted.
* It should be noted that there are secure hosted solutions available for Wordpress such as WPEngine that are an option.

And the down side...

It's not all roses though. There are definitely limitations to using a website builder like Weebly which can be frustrating. Moving the site to another provider isn't particularly easy either if you decide to go elsewhere later, so do consider all options before making a final decision.

Weebly for SEO: The Good

So what about Weebly for SEO? Is it any good? 

​Here are a few of the highlights:

​1. ​Easy to access 'SEO' areas for pages and posts in Weebly allow you to add meta descriptions,  SEO page titles, alt tags for images and permalinks. It's also quite simple to drop in header code for Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager (GTM) to start monitoring or tagging your site.
Screen shot - Weebly SEO panel
2. URL formatting is mostly quite SEO friendly out of the box and doesn't need much work. As mentioned above you can also tweak the permalinks for internal pages quite easily via the side panel.

​3. Weebly automatically adds Facebook Opengraph (OG) code by default - making it more user friendly to share articles on Facebook (though Twitter cards are not automatically added) 

​4. Load times / performance grade was reasonable with a bit of basic image optimisation.
​The page loaded in under 3 seconds despite being 1.4MB in size (though this did get worse once we added widgets - see below points)
Pingdom screen shot of load time
Screenshot from Pingdom site speed test

Weebly for SEO: The Bad

Here are some of the areas we found that Weebly fell short:

  1. ​Lack of really good plugins for SEO such as Yoast for Wordpress 
  2. No easy way to add structured data via the CMS (see our Weebly workaround for adding structured data here).
  3. Blog options are limited.  The cornerstone of a good content marketing strategy, the Weebly blog lacks an 'excerpt' type layout on category pages. From what we're seen this gets flagged as both long and duplicate pages. There are also a lack of flexible repeaters or good 'previous/next' article add-ins to encourage deeper engagement with the blog.
  4. Javascript and CSS is not well optimised our of the box. This seemed to get worse once we added some basic plugins to the home page (such as a blog slider). A bit surprising since there does seem to be some level of moderation over the plugins library. We later removed the plugins to improve site speed.

Our site's pagespeed scores tell the story - not terrible, but 'needs work':
Screenshot from Google PageSpeed Insights
Screenshot from Google PageSpeed Insights

Our Results

So what was the end result after 6 months? 

Technical challenges and lack of perfect PageSpeed score aside... not many sites make it to page one in Google within the first 6 or even 12 months.

BUT - at last count in Google Search Console, machdigital.com.au was showing impressions for around 100+ non-branded phrases on page one and this is improving steadily. ​One of the most competitive terms is 'digital marketing help'.

Is this thanks to Weebly? Or is it due to some solid SEO principles and good quality content applied to a site?

​From our experience, we'd have to suggest the latter.

Weebly SEO Tips: Get Your Weebly Site to Show Up on Google

Apart from some SEO basics (and this article is NOT) an SEO guide, here are some Weebly-specific tips we came across:​

Firstly as a minimum - you must upgrade from Weebly's free website builder to the paid version in order to “get search indexing". If you plan to go anywhere with SEO in Weebly, this is a critical step.
​
​Weebly also provide some pretty useful SEO tips and suggestions in their Help Center, complete with advice on:
  • On-page SEO
  • Meta data optimization
  • Google Search Console (Google Webmaster Tools) help
  • Link building tactics
  • On-page hierarchy
  • Off-site SEO
  • Citation building
  • And more

For more general tips on SEO visibility, check out our articles:
  • http://www.machdigital.com.au/digital-marketing-blog/11-answers-how-do-i-make-my-website-more-visible-in-google 
  • ​http://www.machdigital.com.au/digital-marketing-blog/case-study-how-to-get-more-visible-in-google-in-3-weeks

The Weebly SEO Review: Final Verdict

Weebly is certainly not a magic pill from an SEO point of view. However, if good SEO practices are applied to a Weebly site, along with an understanding of how the website builder works - SEO success is certainly achievable.

Coupled with security and time-saving benefits, Weebly and other website builders are a viable option for those looking to get a decent quality website up and running quickly.
8 Comments

Paid Vs Free PPC Audits: Which Should You Choose?

30/8/2017

0 Comments

 
​
Plenty of digital agencies out there offer free audits for PPC (Adwords), SEO, social media and other areas in digital marketing.

Add to the mix other options such as a number of free audit tools online and questions begin to arise -
​
  • What's the difference between a paid audit and free audit?
  • ​Which should you choose?

Here we explore both approaches (paid vs free), provide a few tips on what to look out for and how to get the most value from your PPC strategy. 
Feature image Paid Vs Free PPC Audits

Free Vs Paid Audits: Understanding the Difference

What do you get for a paid audit?
Engaging with an Adwords certified professional or digital marketing agency for an audit should give you thorough results and recommendations or an action plan to improve your Adwords campaigns.

The agency or individual should spend reasonable time to really understand your business, your budget and your conversion goals. These steps are particularly important - subtle differences in the way keywords are targeted can be the difference between an effective campaign and burning a lot of money on poor quality visits to your site which may never convert into actual leads. 

A manual audit will usually require you to grant at least 'view' access to your Adwords account. More detailed audits can typically include keyword / display research and competitor research.

What do you get for a free audit?
It varies.
  • Some agencies may actually perform a manual or detailed audit as a strategy to win new clients (which is perfectly fine).
  • Others may simply run your website through a (free) online tool and provide a report (see section below for more detail).

You Get What You Pay For
We're big proponents of this as a blanket rule when it comes to digital marketing - ultimately you get what you pay for - Adwords/PPC audits are no exception. Arm yourself with these words of caution along with an 'if it's too good to be true it probably is' mentality and trust your gut in these cases.

​If still in doubt, you could consider a third party agency audit.

The Agency Side

Data is great (and readily available), but how your agency interprets the data is the real test.

Insight is what holds the real value and this is still a key component that can easily separate a seasoned PPC professional from many great online tools.
​
There are a number of these tools, some which agencies will use to provide a 'free audit' as mentioned above.
Be mindful that most tools will allow you to run your own test for free* and produce the exact same data.
*some have free trials or quota caps on the free version


Some of the more popular tools available:
  • https://prospect.silktide.com/
  • https://www.spyfu.com/
  • https://www.similarweb.com/
  • https://www.semrush.com/
Tip: Any of these tools online will show up some errors in a report - no website or campaign is 100% perfect.
Adwords sales consultant
Beware the report-touting digital salesperson.

What to Look Out For

With all of this in mind, here are a few things that we still come across quite often and consider as possible red flags - be warned.

  1. 'Sales Person With a Report'
    As mentioned above, many online tools can provide a free report. Can the person/consultant behind the report answer your questions? Do they seem knowledgeable? Do they seem to understand your business goals? Are they Google certified? 

  2. Distraction metrics
    Numbers like 'clicks' can look good on paper but is not always a good indication of quality of visits to your site. Other performance metrics such as CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) or ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) are better.

  3. Tracking should be set up on the account
    Metrics like CPA can't be tracked without tracking and goals set up on the account. This should be done as a bare minimum. If these goals and tracking aren't set up or this hasn't been noticed - be concerned.

  4. Keywords or Targeting too broad
    Broader, general keywords can sometimes generate a lot of traffic. They can also be more expensive per click and ads may be triggering for the wrong search queries ('keywords triggering your ads' can be checked in the Adwords interface) - leading to poor quality visits on your site. 
    ​
  5. Lack of Touch or Knowledge
    Your agency or Adwords consultant should be able to discuss advanced options in Adwords that are the best fit for your business; such as targeting and ad scheduling as well as be across all of the latest Adwords changes and ad extensions. This stuff changes all the time. If your consultant or agency doesn't seem to be paying it the time it needs to keep up to date, it might be time to move on.

Doing it Yourself

Adwords is a challenging beast when you first start out. 
There are guides online which can point you in the right direction to give the PPC audit or management of your campaigns a red-hot go yourself, but be warned - mistakes can be costly.


DIY Vs Working with a Certified Professional

Often, Adwords professionals will have worked on hundreds or even thousands of PPC accounts. You don't get that sort of experience by reading a couple of guides online and hoping for the best.

The type of insight that a good certified Adwords Professional can gain in a couple of hours of an audit could be more than someone less skilled might do in several weeks (or months).

Adwords Express

More recently, there is Google's 'Adwords Express' option. This is AI-based and essentially like setting the campaigns to autopilot. AI then attempts to do most of the hard work for you. Even with that, there is always a risk of wasting budget (which Google doesn't seem to usually mind so much :) ​

Here's more info on how it works: ​https://www.google.com.au/adwords/express/how-it-works/

In Summary

Be mindful of the available options and what's involved.
​
  • Getting a free PPC audit may be just that - a free report from an online tool delivered in the hands of a sales consultant. 
  • In the long run, a good manual audit from an Adwords professional is well worth investing in.

Adwords is a great tool, but simple mistakes can add up. If not done correctly, Adwords can also be a great way to lose a lot of money.
0 Comments

11 Answers: 'How Do I Make My Website More Visible in Google?'

20/7/2017

1 Comment

 
​
'Getting more visible in Google' is firstly a case of changing old thinking away from 'ranking for keywords' and more towards maximising a 'Page 1 share of voice', or 'share of SERP'.
​
(Check out our recent blog post to better understand why this is becoming so important).

Just to be clear - we're not saying that keywords aren't an important part of an earned strategy...

But in the world of SEO, where even Google suggests that it can take at least 4-12 months to start seeing tangible results and the competition is increasing every day - starting with a focus to improve Share of SERP makes sense.

Improving visibility and Share of SERP can give small businesses (and large ones) 'quick wins' and more opportunities to be in front of your most relevant customers when it's most relevant.
Picture

What are The Benefits?

Take Up More of the Room
​One on-the-front-foot way of thinking about Share of SERP is as 
this SMX presentation puts it:
Picture
Don't Miss Online Opportunities
​Or for the risk-averse, it's also a case of getting the basics right so that your business isn't potentially leaving leads on the table - or even worse - throwing them away.

11 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve

How can you work towards more 'share of SERP'?

In a number of ways - some of which you can implement easily and right away:

Note: we're assuming in this article that you've covered the basics such as submitting your site and XML sitemap to Google Search Console to ensure there are no errors and are now looking to take the next step to earn more visibility.

0. Don't Waste the Space You've Already Earned

Step '0' is to consider the very basics of on page optimisation and the bare minimum info Google displays in a search result:
​
  • PAGE TITLES
  • URL
  • META DESCRIPTION

Make sure these are well-written, free from typos, descriptive, relevant and ideally include a 'call to action' in your meta description. Most modern web content management systems should allow you access to these things either by default or with the help of a plugin. 

​In short - Don't waste the space you already have.

1. Google My Business

It might seem basic, but - ensure your Google My Business ('GMB') listing is optimised, completed, up to date and appears when you search for your business name .

I.e.: If you want people to be able to use the 'Call' and 'Navigate' options from the search results, you need to have the 'phone' and 'address' information filled out. Makes sense, right?

Get started at: https://business.google.com/

While you're there, try the brand new Google Posts feature in Google My Business to publish your events, products, and  services directly to Google Search.
Screen shot - Google Posts
Google Posts example

2. Add Structured Data

Implement and maximise your structured data (especially if you are a museum, movie theatre, musician or sports group).

​Get noticed, potentially appear in the knowledge graph or even just to help your business stand out in the organic search results.

​One example of structured data is starred reviews:
Screen shot - Structured review markup appearing in Google SERP
Example of structured review markup appearing in Google SERP
How?
There are a number of ways to add structured data and countless articles online, so we won't go into detail here.
Some of the most common ways are:
  1. Via Google Tag Manager using JSON-LD
  2. Directly at a code level via JSON-LD or HTML
  3. If your site is on Wordpress or other CMS – Plugins such as Yoast or WP SEO Structured Data Schema
  4. Google's Structured Data Highlighter within Google Search Console 

3. Consistent NAP Details

Ensure your NAP details (Name, Address, Phone Number) are up to date and added to any high quality, relevant directory sites that rank for your search terms.

Consistency also helps Google and other search engines 'see' your different business listings as the same business. This strengthens your presence rather than diluting it.
​
Again, this one might seem obvious - but we see it all too often.

A quick word of warning:
  • Do keep in mind - quality over quantity and Google's most recent changes and best practices. 
  • Do not go out and spam a heap of low quality directory sites with your business details.  

If you have a large number of location listings to manage, or need some help claiming listings, you could consider a third party service like Yext or Moz Local to make things easier.

4. Get Creative

Check the search results for other creative avenues that appear alongside your search terms.
​
Think along other lines such as...
  • Does your business have relevant answers as an industry specialist to highly searched questions on Quora? 
  • Does your business have any press/media opportunities – online articles?
    (Check out ‘HARO’: ‘Help a Reporter Out’)

5. Look to The Community

Get active on Social Media
​Participate on industry group sites and relevant online communities, aim for a citation or link.
 

Again, this one comes with a big 'take care' warning.

For example - Old spammy back linking techniques are high risk and mostly don't even work these days. In short - your guest post should of quality and provide value in it's own right or be highly relevant... not simply a reason to back link to your own site to 'get more links'.

Here's a video from Google's Matt Cutts which addresses the question of guest blogging (even back in 2012 it was getting into a grey area).
And here in a more recent 2017 video - Google's Marie Haynes discusses which type of links you can get that do/don't comply with Google's guidelines:
Marie Haynes - Whiteboard Friday from Moz

6. Buy it With Adwords

The phrase "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" comes to mind. But in reality, ads take up more space on SERPs than ever before... especially on mobile.

A few thoughts:
  • Make sure that you take advantage of all the relevant ad extensions available to make yourself stand out.
  • Depending on your business you might even try branded bids (bidding on your own name).

7. Match Content to User Intent

Don't become blinkered and optimise content for single keywords (or broad topics) - try to anticipate and solve user's needs.

In general - Write naturally, match content to the intent of the user who is searching for the page and provide a solution. 

An example of keywords matched to user intent:
Table of keywords matched to user intent
Source: https://www.link-assistant.com/news/optimizing-for-semantic-search.html

8. Give the Best Answer

Taking point 7 a step further...

Strive to create the very best answer to the question or solution to the problem that the user may be looking for with quality content – a great response that truly deserves to rank on page one organically.

As a bonus result, possibly earn a spot as a featured answer directly on the SERP:
Picture

9. Think Beyond Text on a Page

Google also displays info such as Videos, Images, News, Maps, Books, Products and Twitter feeds on the search results page.

Could your great answer from point 7-8 be better served as a how-to video, infographic or a PDF e-book? 
Diagram explaining Google universal search

10. Hijack The Knowledge Graph

Think of other ways to (respectfully) hijack the knowledge graph...

Perhaps 
build a glossary page or aim to achieve a '#0 ranking' in Google for answers
Here is a possible result:
Screen shot structured snippet
Example of a structured snippet appearing on the SERP

11. Wear a White Hat. Don't Be That Guy...

Lastly (it needs to be said) - don't try to game or trick the search engines.
​

​Most of those techniques have long been marked as black hat and if they aren't, it's probably not long before they end up on Google's radar. 

​Even if you're winning now with black hat, you might be one algorithm update away from getting a slap down and losing all of your hard work.
(12) What we haven't covered here ('other stuff')...
We'd call these separate topics in their own right and there is plenty of info online that covers these in detail:
  • ​The technical side of SEO (and no, this article is not intended as an 'SEO guide')
  • Content marketing 
  • AMP pages
  • Social Media in detail

In Conclusion

We still see many small, medium (and some large) businesses missing the basics when it comes to visibility online, when it's more critical than ever to start from a solid foundation.

This does leave opportunities on the table for those who can adjust their thinking and start considering the way the modern SERP works and looks - ultimately, maximising their share of SERP.

We hope this guide offers some practical, actionable steps to improve your business' visibility online and improve your share of SERP.

Get the Infographic

Additional reading:
​​This article on PPC Hero expands further on 'share of SERP' and this SMX post on Slideshare gives further tips (including some more advanced ones on implementation and optimisation.

​
1 Comment

Google's Online Courses & Certifications List 2017-18

17/7/2017

8 Comments

 
​
Google's ongoing commitment to education in digital marketing is significant and hard to miss. Their list of online courses and digital marketing training partnerships keeps growing all the time.

This list is expanding so rapidly that (in addition to our recent article 8 (Mostly) Free Digital Marketing Courses & Training Resources Online) we thought it was worthwhile to expand out on Google's online course offerings in one place.

The list is below.
Feature image - Google's Online Courses

Short Form Courses and Certifications

Google Partners Logo
1. Google Partners
Provider
Google
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Yes, most ​including certificate of completion.​
Content / Level
Fundamentals through to advanced certifications for Google Adwords and Analytics as well as the (added in 2017) Mobile Sites certification aimed at developers.

** From early 2018 - Google Partners content has been moved into Academy for Ads
Google Academy for Ads Logo
2. Academy for Ads
Provider
Google
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Not a certification but a 'certificate of achievement' is given on completion of modules.
Content / Level
Short form introductory level training resources via LMS that cover key online marketing areas focused around Google products - Adwords, Ad Exchange, Doubleclick, Programmatic, Mobile, Web Design and Creative.
Google Analytics Academy Logo
3. Google Analytics Academy
Provider
Google
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Currently not offering certifications or certificates of completion (apparently certificates were rewarded initially but these are now removed). 
According the FAQ page and this forum thread "
some exciting updates to course content and certification is coming soon, so stay tuned!"

Content / Level
Currently 4 courses: Analytics for Beginners, Advanced Google Analytics, Ecommerce Analytics: From Data to Decisions, Google Tag Manager Fundamentals.
The Digital Garage by Google Logo
​4. The Digital Garage (by Google)
Provider
Google, IAB Europe
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
From the site: "Complete each of the 23 topics and unlock every badge, you can earn the esteemed Digital Garage Certificate of Online Proficiency"

Content / Level
Free entry-level courses on everything from search to social media, to help you grow your business or career.
Google Primer Logo
​5. Primer (by Google)
Provider
Google
Free/Paid?
​Free
Certification
Unsure

Content / Level
"Bite-sized lessons to better your business".
Short form lesson content delivered by Android or iPhone app and personalised to you. 

"Primer is a fast, easy way to learn new business and digital marketing skills. You can take our interactive lessons whenever you have 5 minutes free."

Longer Online Courses

Squared Online Logo
​6. Squared Online
Provider
Avado, Google
Free/Paid?
​Paid 
£1,799 as of July 2017
Certification
Yes. ​The Squared Online Certificate in Digital Marketing.

Content / Level
"The digital marketing leadership course developed with Google" aimed at "marketing managers, bright grads and professionals looking to enter the industry".
130 hours of practical learning over 5 months.
PPC, SEO, analytics, and programmatic taught by industry experts 
We'll aim to keep this article updated as the list undoubtedly continues to grow. Feel free to message us or  comment with any other Google Online Courses to add or if any of the information above changes.
Related Posts:
Feature image - Digital Marketing Training Courses

Digital Marketing Training Courses

​Get the knowledge you need: personalised, on demand training courses
Learn More
8 Comments

[Comic] If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers

30/6/2017

1 Comment

 
Working in an industry like digital marketing, where the products are intangible and there's a knowledge gap so wide you could drive a bus through certainly has it's share of challenges.

These comics are a light-hearted look at what it might be like if Plumbers had to work like Digital Marketers. 

We hope at least that it gives digital marketers out there a bit of a laugh (you are not alone!).
Feature image- If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Comic strip 1 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client: Can you also fix my light switches while you're here? 
Plumber: No, sorry. You need an Electrician for that, not a Plumber.
Client: ​Aren't they the same thing?
Comic strip 2 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client: Can you meet me for a coffee?

​I want to pick your brain about plumbing for an hour. I'm not ready to pay you for your services, but hopefully the $4 coffee will serve as adequate compensation for your time.
Comic strip 3 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client: A stranger rang me out of the blue and said they can do my plumbing work for cheaper.

​I appreciate your services for the last 4 years, but I'm thinking of going with them, even though I've never met them, don't really know who they are and have no evidence of the quality of their work.

​I don't even know if they are a real plumber (or a real person), but they sounded good on the phone.
Comic strip 4 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client: Thank you for your advice about plumbing, but I think I'll ignore it.

​I know you apprenticed
 for 4 years and have been working as a professional licensed plumber for 15 years, but I fixed a tap once back in 1996 and read a couple of articles online, so I feel that I have a complete grasp of all aspects of plumbing and can make a better call myself.
Comic strip 5 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client: Hey, I just saw a 3 hour online course on plumbing basics for $19.

​Do you think that I can take the course, then start my own plumbing business full time?
Comic strip 6 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client: So, tell me... How does it all work?
Plumber: How does what work?
Client: This 'plumbing' thing... I've got a few minutes, can you explain it to me?
Comic strip 7 -If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client (calling in the middle of the night): The pipe under my sink has burst! water is everywhere!
​It's 3am but I need you to fix this right now.

​I'm not willing to pay you any extra and feel like this should be included as part of the job you did unblocking my toilet a year ago. 
Comic strip 8 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Client: I decided I don't need you to fix that broken shower tap after all. 
I went out and bought a Jacuzzi. I think it solved the problem.
Actually... I'm not even sure if I need water really...
Comic strip 9 - If Plumbers Had to Work Like Digital Marketers
Job ad: "Plumber wanted. Must have 4+ years experience and also have a relevant degree as well as be a qualified electrician, carpenter, auto-mechanic, an accredited architect and have experience with bookkeeping. Dental experience would be a plus. Salary: AUD$40-49k depending on experience."
Disclaimer: This is intended as a humorous account of semi-fictional 'experiences' only. Any similarity with clients past or present is not intended and purely coincidental. 'Plumbing' was chosen as a random industry for illustrative purposes only. Some credit also due for the article we read many years ago that inspired this post.
1 Comment
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