This post first appeared on HP’s Business Innovation blog - check it out for more business tips and advice.

Microsoft adCenter is a great way to advertise your business and its products online. Check out our article How to advertise and sell online for more tips.

1.      Match your ad to your business. Make sure that your ad is in keeping with your business and include the top benefits your customers are looking for. Direct your ad to unique landing URLs, so that searchers can easily find your offer.

2.      Choosing keyword and phrases. Select words and phrases that describe your product, service, brand and location – including plurals, abbreviations, and common misspellings.

3.      Keep reviewing and updating your keyword list. If your business or product evolves then your keywords need to change….but…

4.      Make sure your ad is up to date. As you change your keywords, remember to ensure that your ad stays relevant and still attracts your target customer. Consider using dynamic text in your ad to make the ad more relevant to the searcher’s query.

5.      Monitor and prioritise your keywords. Set your traffic reports to run frequently and prioritise the keywords that bring you the most visitors and are most relevant to your business.

6.      Test multiple ads. Microsoft adCenter allows you to create up to 20 ads per order and automatically display the best performing ads more frequently. 

7.      Word limits. Make sure titles are between six and 25 characters, descriptions are between six and 70, and the display URL is no more than 35 characters.

8.      Use adCenter’s suggested bids – but remember that they are estimates. When you start your bidding, use adCenter’s suggested bids as a guide. Review and adjust your results accordingly after one week.

9.      Bid on individual keywords rather than entering one bid for your whole list. Focus your budget on specific phrases and keywords.

10.   Use incremental bidding to help target your core customers. Incremental bids add an additional amount beyond your original keyword bid to target customers by location, time and date, age or gender. AdCenter’s reports can determine the demographic profile of your visitors; you can then set your bid accordingly.

Get your first £30’s worth of advertising free when you advertise on Bing with Microsoft adCenter

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Guest post from Cedric Chambaz , Marketing Manager, Search & SMB, Microsoft Advertising

Every September it is the same story: a new year, new pupils, new teacher… The perspective of the unknown can be daunting for our little ones. And to a certain extent, I face a similar apprehension from business owners when I mention I work in search marketing. They may have given up on the school uniforms but they are still facing that ambivalent feeling: on the one hand they acknowledge search as  a critical marketing technique for SMB but on the other hand, they are somehow afraid by what sounds like dark digital arts to them.

To bust these myths, Microsoft Advertising has created adExcellence, a series of free video tutorials which help ’search newbies’ – and seasoned e-marketers - learn about pay-per-click advertising and how to make the most out of Microsoft adCenter, Bing’s search marketing platform. Regularly updated, these virtual classrooms give you access at your own leisure, to a wealth of information from ad copy tips to targeting strategies, from budgeting to optimisation best practices… What’s more? Just like in the old days, you can even take the adExcellence exam and become an accredited adCenter user.

 adExcellence is one of the numerous assets of the Microsoft Advertising Learning Centre. Bookmark this great depository of research, case studies, tools.. it is very handy and certainly lighter than any of the textbooks your children have to carry around.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

On the news this morning was the government’s spending challenge - our chance to help shape the way the government works by suggesting cost-saving measures. Checking the website it looks as though you can’t submit any additional suggestions but you can rate those that have already been submitted. You can search ideas by tag name or take a look at the complete list and then vote for the ones you like.

I’ve just take a look at the ‘Quango’ tag and not unsurprisingly, scrapping many of them is top of the list of ideas. Browsing through ‘environment’ a tax on packaging is one idea, as is increasing tax on short haul flights. HS2 - the proposed rail link between Birmingham and London is not popular. There’s also a suggestion that services normally run by councils and central government should be outsourced to small businesses.

Interesting reading…

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Great little (2.37 mins) video on Nitec like Windows 7 for themselves and their customers.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Here’s an extract from a new feature story published on the Microsoft Small Business website yesterday. You can read the story in full here.

To some extent, urging small business owners to invest in IT security solutions may be preaching to the converted – unsurprising given the huge amount of media attention given over to the subject over the last decade.

Unless they have been living under a rock all this time, company leaders should by now be fully aware of the importance of protecting their business IT solutions against web-based viruses and other malware.

There is a clear choice, either invest a small amount safeguarding critical systems against online attacks, or face potential disaster further along the line.

Where the most severe IT security incidents are concerned, the damage caused can easily be business ending – either in terms of hardware/software destruction or in terms of reputational damage.

And despite the repetitiveness of this message, it remains no less important than before, even in light of the higher education levels now surrounding IT security.

If anything, the warning needs reiterating in light of new and emerging online threats.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Guest post by Vasilis Vryniotis, co-founder of WebSEOAnalytics.com 

SEO professionals spent hours of work trying to fine tune their SEO campaigns and increase their organic traffic. Since SEO is a game of inches not miles, every single change could make a difference and thus much time and effort are invested in such campaigns. So the question is, is search engine traffic the best traffic you can get to your website?

In this article we will evaluate the various types of traffic based on the following characteristics: Duration of generated traffic, Degree of Control, Speed of results and Stability of results. The main goal of this article is not to suggest a single “best” source of traffic. Instead it is to examine the characteristics of the visitors along with the strong & weak points of each type of traffic. 

1. Direct Traffic

Direct traffic is made up of visitors who have typed directly the URL of a page or who have found it in the history or bookmarks of their browser. Additionally sometimes we consider as direct traffic, a visit that comes from an Email campaign or from a source that is not possible to be traced. In this article we focus on the first case of direct traffic.

 Usually increased direct traffic indicates increased brand awareness. It shows that a large number of users know the particular domain, trust it and expect to find useful information or services. In most of the cases they are not new visitors but regular and loyal users.

 Visitor characteristics: returning visitors, regular and loyal users

2. Referring Traffic

The Referring traffic is made up of visitors who have clicked on a link of another website and landed on one of your pages. A special type of referring traffic is the one that comes from Social Media and in this article we distinguish it because it has different characteristics.

Increased referring traffic indicates that the website has attractive content and that other webmasters suggest it to their visitors by placing links in their pages. In most of the cases, the pages that receive the most of the links are the ones that are also popular to the users and have great content (Of course there are cases where the increased number of links is a result of a link building strategy). Acquiring links from relevant – high traffic websites can drive lots of quality traffic to your website and increase your authority. Those links usually are hard to get and the best way to acquire them is by starting affiliations with other webmasters or by developing innovative services and quality content.

Visitor characteristics: new visitors, most of the times targeted users

3. Social Media Traffic

The Social Media Traffic is the traffic that comes from online communities and social media networks. It is considered a part of Referring Traffic but we usually distinguish it because it has different characteristics. The problem in this distinction is that it is not always clear how to categorise the incoming traffic from particular sources. For example, should we consider the traffic from a forum or from a blog as social media traffic? Our suggestion is to categorise each source of traffic depending on its characteristics.

 Increased Social Media Traffic indicates that the website is popular to the users and there is buzz around it. As we discussed in previous articles (12 Tips for developing a Successful Twitter Campaign & 7 tips for launching successful Social Media Campaigns) investing on a social media campaign is something that can drive lots of traffic to your website. Nevertheless have in mind that not all websites or pages become popular on social media since the amount of traffic heavily depends on the nature of the content.

 Visitor characteristics: new and previous visitors, less targeted users, high bounce rate

4. Search Engine Traffic (Organic)

The Search Engine Traffic (Organic) is the traffic that comes from the non-paid results of the various search engines. Less often we categorise as organic the traffic that comes from directories and yellow pages. In this article we focus on the organic traffic that comes from the search engines.

Increased Search Engine Traffic indicates that the website has launched a successful SEO campaign. This means that the site is well developed, well structured, it has optimized content and it receives lots of quality links. 

 Visitor characteristics: new visitors, very targeted users

5. PPC & Paid Traffic

The Paid Traffic is the traffic that comes from online advertisements. There are various types of Paid Traffic such as Pay Per Click (PPC), Paid Inclusion, Pay Per Impression, Paid links etc.

Increased Paid Traffic does not guarantee a successful advertising campaign. Other measures like ROI and Conversion Rates are very important too. Due to the fact that this type of traffic costs, it must be closely monitored in order to improve the effectiveness of the campaign.

 Visitor characteristics: new visitors, very targeted users.

Conclusion

So let’s get back to the initial question. Is search engine traffic the best traffic you can get to your website?

Certainly search engine traffic is a great source of traffic since it is an effective way to get New Targeted visitors at a very low cost. Nevertheless the SEO campaigns can be affected by the algorithmic changes, by the various “best practices” that come and go and by the increasing competition of popular keywords. As a result there is always the possibility of not being able to rank high enough or of losing your competitive rankings overnight.

Have in mind that in order to build a successful SEO campaign you need quality links that at the same time they are the source of referring traffic. Of course in order to get those quality links you need to attract regular visitors and strong supporters who are willing to recommend you to other users in social media or place your link in their websites. Certainly there is always the option of launching a PPC campaign and get fast results but this will cost additional funds and it might not have the expected results if the campaign is not planned carefully.

 That’s why my personal favourite is the direct traffic which is always a reliable measure of the number of the regular visitors. My second favourite is the referring traffic (Social Media traffic is included) since quality links from high traffic websites can generate lots of traffic and buzz and also positively affect my SEO campaign. My next favourite source of traffic is the Organic because it generates much targeted traffic and brings lots of new visitors. Finally my least favourite source is Paid Traffic. This is because not only it has the highest cost of all the above but also due to the fact that once the campaign is over the positive results disappear very quickly. Of course this does not mean that paid traffic is not important for your promotional campaign. On the contrary it can be a very handy tool when you want to get results in a very short time. After all, the most important thing in this business is to find the optimal combination of each source and use all the available tools and resources properly.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Rabbits rule (apparently)

Here’s one for the children and for the parents of children - new photo-editing tools in Word 2010

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Source: Microsoft Small Business

Thanks! we’ve had a couple of comments on our previous post about contacting us. In response, because it’s easier and we don’t have email addresses for those who have commented, we’ve posted a couple of replies on our Facebook page.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Here at Microsoft SB (and all Microsoft) we are genuinely interested in what small businesses have to say about what you’re selling/building, the difficulties you face and what you’d like to see on the website or in the newsletter so please don’t hesitate to tell us your views.

As well as the help & support contacts I gave in Friday’s post we also have ‘Contact Us’ info from links at the foot of the right-hand margin on all our web pages and in the top left-hand margin box. We also have a ‘Rate this page’ link (right foot of page), where you can comment on the content of individual pages.

We have a Foresee survey running on the website too, which appears on a random basis. If you get the pop-up box please do complete the survey when you’ve finished browsing the site - it helps us to provide the information you need.

And on the Social Media side, we have a Discussion tab on our Facebook page, where you can post queries or comments and you can of course send us a Tweet @MicrosoftSB.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Guest post from Maria Ross, founder and chief strategist of Red Slice  a branding and marketing consultancy based in the US. She is the author of Branding Basics for Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget available on Amazon.co.uk

A fundamental advantage that small business owners have when it comes to brand is that they are so close to their customers. Usually, they started the business because of a personal passion or because they themselves felt a need and strived to fulfill it in the market. DRY Soda, a natural soda company, started out when the founder tried to find healthy, natural yet sophisticated beverages to have at a nice restaurant or a cocktail party.  Baby Legs, which provides signature stylish leg warmers for babies and toddlers, was founded by a young mom who needed to expose her baby’s diaper rash to fresh air while still keeping her daughter warm. These leg warmers protected her from the elements, made diaper changing and potty training easier, and protected her soft knees while crawling.

I had the amazing opportunity to facilitate a brand workshop for a tech company who is trying to clarify their messaging, build brand recognition and generally change the game in their industry. Exciting stuff. We clarified and gained consensus on what business they are truly in, who their ideal customers are, and what persona the company can authentically present to the world.  But all of this was just ‘business speak’.

Finally, in the early afternoon, I tossed my papers aside and challenged the CEO and others, “Let’s back up a second: What is the mission of this company? What greater impact do you hope your software and solutions have on the world?” The CEO didn’t even need a moment to think before articulating his passion about helping match candidates to employers, which leads to more jobs and thriving businesses, which leads to healthy economies – but on a personal level, finding the right job enables people to “send their kids to college” and make their lives’ dream come true.

The room came alive. Everyone from the CFO to the HR Director to the sales directors gave their own spin on this mission and what gets them out of bed in the morning. I pointed out, “See how the energy in this room just changed? This is the spark that will separate you from the pack, inspire businesses to partner with you, inspire talented employees to work for you, attract customers to do business with you. This is the essence of what you guys are all about.”

If you create an authentic brand in pursuit of a higher purpose, you can connect to people as ‘people’ – not just employees, customers or partners. And this will gain you loyalty, attraction and revenue beyond your wildest dreams. It doesn’t matter if you are a ‘solopreneur’ or a 10,000 person company. And only if this mission is authentically lived out through everything your company says and does will it be embraced and believed – you cannot simply ‘slap a coat of brand paint’ on your business with the transparent singular goal of more profits.  If you start with the right intentions and a true passion that is executed clearly and consistently, trust me: the money will follow.

Source: Microsoft Small Business