Where will you place your ad? What will the title be? What image will you use to showcase your business? Since the text in a listing is limited, how will you describe your business in a few words? In this article, we’ll walk you through how to get more clicks and improve your existing or recently purchased expanded listing.
Note: The following applies to expanded listings as well as super-expanded listings.
Advertisement placement is key.
If you only have room in your budget to advertise on one or two pages, you must narrow down your options by considering your ideal customer. Ask yourself, which pages are they going to visit? For example, a hotel in the Historic District whose ideal customers are typically married is not likely to need to advertise on the Weddings Page. However, if that same hotel sees an influx of wedding bookings during a specific time of year, they should place an ad on the Weddings Page during that time.
Don’t forget about the Calendar Page! Locals, travelers, and all types of ideal customers travel to this page to find events. Note: Expanded listings and super expanding listings are not permitted on the Calendar Page, but button and banner ads are.
Choose from Where to Stay, Things to Do, Where to Eat, The Community, and all of our subpages.
Keep the title of your expanded listing short and sweet.
You have a few seconds to get the attention of users on a website. In these seconds, users decide whether they’re interested in an advertisement by glancing at titles and images. The title of your expanded listing should be inviting and uncomplicated. Most of the time this is a non-issue, as people often use the name of their business as the title. In the same token, don’t be afraid to use a tagline or a call to action as your title! Keep in mind, titles on OldCity.com should exceed no more than 40 characters. If they do they might run to a second line and create negative attention for your advertisement. Thinking about switching up your title? Send us your ideas!
Quality imagery gets more clicks.
This is the photo Blue Dolphin Beachfront Cottage uses for their expanded listing. It has proven to be successful in their monthly statistics report.
The imagery on your expanded listing is as important as your title. Again, you only have a few seconds to capture the attention of users and can easily do this by making your ad pop-out with compelling photos! Imagery should be professional and accurately represent your business.
As our designer, Bobby Jones once said, “A poorly shot photo reflects poorly on your business and speaks to your consumer subtly about the quality of what you are offering them. It could be the difference between choosing you or your competitor. Look at professional photography as a worthwhile investment in your success.”
Keep in mind, the expanded listings on OldCity.com only permit one photo, if you’d like to display several photos upgrade to a super-expanded listing.
The text in your advertisement must be authentic.
The title of your expanded listing is your hook; the image is your line; the text is your sinker. You were able to hook and reel in a user with your title and image and now they’re reading the text. Is it captivating enough?
The text in Petit Bout de France’s expanded listing was created by Kim Yerty.
Your ad’s text needs to: educate users about the perks of doing business with you, hold the reader’s attention, and accurately describe your service. Avoid using cheesy words like magnificent, award-winning, exciting; instead use words like charming, excellent, thrilling. Additionally, try not to mention that your business is the “best of” on sites like TripAdvisor; instead, describe what got you great reviews in the first place! Check out Petit Bout de France’s expanded listing for an example of great text.
Don’t set and forget your expanded listing advertisement.
Remember to tweak your expanded listing advertisement occasionally. This especially applies prior to holidays like the 4th of July, St. Augustine’s Nights of Lights, Valentine’s Day, and Summertime! You can easily do this by editing the text to correspond with the time of year and switching your image with a festive one.
If you have more questions about advertising on OldCity.com, check out these frequently asked questions.
Does the web address bar show in red “Not Secure” before your business’ URL? Then you know that your site needs an SSL certificate added to it. July 1 was the deadline to have one added. This is not just for e-commerce sites anymore. A viewer to your site needs to know they are safe to visit even if it is to just look. Your hosting provider will be able to help you with this in case you don’t have one. Don’t let your competitor rank ahead of you just because their site is secure! Any questions – give us a call!
Mission Statement
Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – manage their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at (904) 829-2772 or contact us today.
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Photo credits: Old City Web Services, Blue Dolphin Beachfront Cottage, Petit Bout de France, OldCity.com