How to Build an Ecommerce Website Fast

How to Build an Ecommerce Website Fast

This is a guest post from our friends at BigCommerce Need an ecommerce website? Tired of losing sales to online competitors? If you’re not already selling online, there’s never been a better time to hop on the ecommerce bandwagon. After all, you already know ecommerce is big, and while online stores used to be the outliers of the retail world, ecommerce has gone mainstream. In 2019, U.S. shoppers bought $365.2 billion worth of physical goods from online stores, including $103.13 billion in clothing, shoes, and accessories. Global ecommerce penetration is expected to surpass 65% of worldwide internet users by 2021, although the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to push the actual […]

How to Track the Quantity & Quality of Phone Calls from Google Ads

How to Track the Quantity & Quality of Phone Calls from Google Ads

Recently, one of our SEO clients approached us for help with Google Ads, and she asked us to audit her Google Ads account to answer this question: Which keywords and ads drove a recent influx of new phone call leads?” This is a common situation where a business sees an increase in calls and wants to determine what’s working to try to replicate it moving forward. In this case, I personally reviewed the account and it only took me a minute after I logged in.  That’s because phone call tracking was not set up properly in the account, so there was no way to know for sure which keywords and […]

5 Ways to Boost Your Google Ads Click-Through Rates

5 Ways to Boost Your Google Ads Click-Through Rates

When I was a kid I used to love watching Voltron on Saturday mornings.  In Voltron, 5 separate spaceships would combine to create a super robot called “Voltron” to fight large enemies.  As individual spaceships, they didn’t stand a chance, but once they came together as Voltron, they were able to win the battles. A similar storyline is now playing out in Google Ads accounts.  Instead of spaceships, we have text ads and ad extensions combining to form Voltron-like super ads that can dominate the search results page.  Take a look at the example below and you can quickly see that one ad has a clear advantage in terms of […]

How to Get Cheap Clicks with Facebook Ads

How to Get Cheap Clicks with Facebook Ads

Since the dawn of the internet, businesses have been on a quest for the cheapest advertising options to drive qualified prospects to their websites. First came banner ads, then flashing banner ads, then Overture pay-per-click ads, then Google AdWords, and eventually Facebook Ads… Regardless of the ad network, the question is always the same, “how do you get the cheapest clicks?” It’s an obvious question because if all else is equal, the cheaper the click, the lower the cost per sale.  And the lower the cost per sale, the higher the return on investment (ROI). In this article I’m going to focus on the ad network where businesses can likely […]

The Key to Success with Facebook Ads: Audience Temperature

The Key to Success with Facebook Ads: Audience Temperature

Audience temperature is arguably the most important targeting variable that many businesses ignore when creating Facebook Ad campaigns. It’s easy to ignore because there are no options to select the audience temperature as you’re building your campaign.  It’s not quite as simple as choosing your age range and gender. Unfortunately, when you get this wrong, then your campaigns are destined to fail. Worst of all, it’s not clear exactly why you’re campaigns are failing unless you understand this critical factor. What Is Audience Temperature? The good news is that you likely already understand audience temperature — it’s basic Marketing 101. As of writing this article, there are over 2.6 billion […]

Google Shopping Update: Now You Can Show Your Products for Free

Google Shopping Update: Now You Can Show Your Products for Free

On Tuesday, Google announced some BIG news for small businesses.  In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Google is overhauling its Shopping results to show free listings.  Since 2012, businesses had to pay to show products in the Shopping results, but starting next week it’ll be free! Here’s what Bill Ready, President of Commerce, said on Google’s blog: Beginning next week, search results on the Google Shopping tab will consist primarily of free listings, helping merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google. Wait a Minute, Are All Google Ads Free? It’s important to clarify that this change is specific to Shopping Ads.  This does not affect text ads […]

How to Create a Productive Remote Team During the COVID-19 Crisis

How to Create a Productive Remote Team During the COVID-19 Crisis

At Main Street ROI, our team has been working remotely for the last 10 years, so the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected our work environment.  Except, of course, for our team members with kids who are now juggling working from home with home-schooling (myself included). But for many businesses working remotely is new, and likely scary, territory.  How do you ensure productivity across your team when you’re not physically in the same office?  How do you maintain your company culture?  How do you maintain work/life balance? Those are just a few questions you may be asking yourself in this new remote environment.  The goal of this article is to answer […]

How to Keep Doing Business During the COVID Shutdown

How to Keep Doing Business During the COVID Shutdown

In my last article, I provided marketing tactics every business can use during the COVID-19 crisis.  It bears repeating that you should not turn off your marketing even if your business is temporarily closed.  Think of it like investing when stock prices are low and everyone else is selling.  This is when you will get steep discounts and you have an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage while your competitors are hibernating. Now let’s switch gears and focus this article on changes you can make to keep your business operational through the social distancing and non-essential business shutdown. 4 Options to Keep Doing Business During the COVID Crisis Some businesses […]

Marketing Tactics Every Business Can Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Marketing Tactics Every Business Can Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

When sales plummet and revenue dries up, the natural human response is to panic.  Whether it’s the current COVID crisis, a natural disaster, or some other market influence, our innate fight or flight reaction kicks in and prevents us from thinking clearly.  Inevitably, this leads to short-sighted decisions that hinder long-term success when this pandemic is over (that’s right, this crisis will pass and businesses will reopen!). Unless your business already folded, you have to plan for the future.  And that means planting some seeds today that you can harvest later… “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis […]

Small Business Resources During COVID-19

Small Business Resources During COVID-19

In New York City, we’re completing our 3rd week of the state-wide stay-at-home mandate.  Rather than working during the day, I’m now teaching 1st grade, coaching my preschooler soccer and street hockey, cooking, cleaning, and obsessively checking the news for coronavirus updates.  And rather than unwinding at night, I’m working after my kids go to bed until my eyes can no longer read the glaring computer screen! I’m sure you’re in a similar boat, but let’s not waste time commiserating about our personal lives.  This will all be over before we know it so we need to focus on preparing our businesses for success post-COVID. In this article, I’ll walk […]