Gavin Simon's Digital Marketing Blog
Hawaii Digital Marketing Specialist, Web Developer, Digital Ad Manager, SEO Strategist
Waikiki Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing Specialist
One of my roles at the agency is as a digital marketing specialist. In that role I research digital advertising trends and products, decide on the best platforms to place ads (based on client strategy and needs), and develop ads that appeal to customers.
Digital Advertising
Google Ads
I started by focusing on Google PPC campaigns, then branched out to the rest of the Google ad platforms including YouTube ads, display ads, remarketing, map ads, gmail ads. Google Shopping Ads have been great for ecommerce clients. Google provides great training at Skillshop. I’m currently certified in many Google products including: Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Certification, Google My Business Certification, Google Shopping Ads Certification, Google Ads Video Certification, Google Display Ads Certification, Google Analytics Certification and Advanced Google Analytics Certification. YouTube is a great resource. Surfside PPC has a lot of great information.
Facebook Ads & Instagram Ads
Facebook and Instagram ads are the most fickle. They are arguably the 2nd most important platform behind Google, and can drive significant returns. The first challenge is getting admin access to clients accounts. This can also be a time consuming process. Facebook business manager should have admin access to the Facebook page, any existing ad accounts and Instagram. Once all this is set-up, we can start running ad campaigns. These ad campaigns need to be set-up and run with care. Facebook provides great audience targeting features for connecting with potential customers. There are many types of Facebook ads including Image ads, Video ads, Carousel ads, Instant Experience ads, and Collection ads. As long as Instagram is connected to the Facebook account, the ads will also show on Instagram. Carousel ads and video ads are my favorite. Facebook’s platform is less user friendly than Google, with limited analytics. A/B tests are easy with Facebook, and they are a great way to improve low-performing ads.
Yelp Ads
The agency I work for became a certified Yelp partner early in my digital marketing journey, and they have been great to work with. I needed to get certified in Yelp and we undergo compliance training and reviews on a regular basis. We work directly with an awesome Yelp Partner Sales Director. Most searches on Yelp are unbranded, which means customers are searching for things like Italian food, instead of the name of an Italian restaurant. Advertising on Yelp is a great way to get in front of these potential customers. The Yelp Enhanced Profile provides a call to action button, removes competitor ads, and allows you to control the images shown to customers. It is a great addition to a Yelp page, and we’ve seen the results drive business for our clients.
LinkedIn Ads
Advertising on LinkedIn is a good lead generator for B2B marketing. LinkedIn ads allow you to target specific roles and industries to show an ad to. LinkedIn ads are usually expensive, so they are not my first choice. But if a client is focused on B2B, this is a great platform to use. There are many formats to choose from including Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Lead Gen Forms, Text and Dynamic Ads. These tools help clients build awareness of their brand, and drive lead generation for their business. A well thought out landing page and CRM platform is critical for these ads.
TripAdvisor Ads
TripAdvisor is a fairly simple ad platform. You basically load an ad into the system and let it run. The platform is a great layer of support for restaurants, but gets a lower return on investment than some of the other platforms. I put it in the nice to have category. TripAdvisor did acquire SinglePlatform, now called Menu Connect, which allows restaurants to manage menus on Tripadvisor, Google, Yelp, Facebook and more.
Analytics tracking and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
Tracking ad campaigns is the most difficult, and interesting part of the process for me. Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel are the most important to set-up. I use Google Tag Manager to manage all of the tracking code. Google is transitioning from Universal Analytics to GA4 next year. I hope they make GA4 better because it’s lacking a lot of the features of UA. There are many 3rd party analytics tools that provide added vision to the success of a campaign. The most important metric though is usually sales. That is where tracking KPIs monthly is incredibly helpful. It allows both the marketer and client to get a 10,000 foot view of the business, then to zoom into specific elements to identify areas of improvement. Tracking and summarizing sales, online marketing campaigns, social media, email marketing, SEO campaigns, and proximity marketing metrics become easier when you see it month over month, year over year.
Web Development
Web development has been a passion for the last several years. I started with html intros through Code Academy and Udemy. A colleague introduced me to Free Code Camp, and I became a huge fan of the platform. Free Code Camp gamifies the challenging process of learning web development. The community is great and the web development curriculum is excellent. I also learned a lot from Andrew Mead and Colt Steele. These Udemy teachers showed me how fun it can be to get into the details of code. I’ve studied HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, GitHub, and much more.
Wordpress websites
I’ve been working on Wordpress websites for the past 5 years. WordPress is a free, open-source platform for creating websites. 43.2% of all websites (and 65.2% of all content management systems) in 2022 use Wordpress. My favorite Wordpress hosting platforms are WPEngine and SiteGround. WPEngine has daily website backups, excellent security, and great customer support. I haven’t had a chance to try Flywheel yet, but it looks really promising. I really enjoy using Local By Flywheel to spin up websites on my local computer. Working with a local Wordpress site is the best way to learn because it’s ok to break it. If I break a website in Local By Flywheel, I can dive in and figure out what broke. Working with WordPress necessitates an understanding of HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, SQL, MySQL. I’ve learned to work with many domain name providers like NameCheap (my favorite), Google, GoDaddy, DomainsPricedRight and more. Buying a domain name, setting up the hosting, and launching a new website is a fun process. Setting up a Wordpress website from scratch isn’t simple, and can have challenges. But it’s exciting to blend tech and creativity to develop a custom Wordpress website.
Shopify websites
Shopify websites take some getting used to. The templates are very basic, but they are built for ecommerce. I completed the Business Fundamentals certification to get a better understanding of Shopify. I plan to complete the rest of the Shopify certifications through the Shopify Partner Academy. Shopify comes with plugins to help with many of its shortcomings, but identifying the good ones takes some exploration.
Squarespace websites
Squarespace websites are really simple to work with. The most difficult thing about them is how templated they are. The developer has very little freedom, which is frustrating when you’re used to WordPress. Performance on SquareSpace websites is usually poor because there is so much code in the templates. Optimizing SquareSpace sites is often a challenge due to the performance issue. On the positive side, there are many built in features like forms and seo options. Overall, I’d rather work with a WordPress website, but I don’t dislike SquareSpace websites.
Wix websites
Wix websites are a step above SquareSpace websites in terms of developer Freedom. I like the built-in SEO and responsive website builder in Wix. It’s easy to build nice looking websites, but there is more freedom to move blocks around. Similar to SquareSpace sites, Wix websites don’t have the greatest website speed performance scores. They also try to upsell you within the platform. Do you want to prevent abandoned carts? It’s going to cost you with Wix. With a WordPress website, I may need to buy a plugin, but I enjoy the mix and match freedom in WordPress. You don’t get that freedom with Wix.
Website Maintenance
Regular website maintenance of WordPress websites is critical. Plugins and versions need to be updated on a regular basis. Updates need to be watched closely as they can break a website. Wix, SquareSpace and Shopify all take care of these updates by themselves.
Regular website backups
Regular website backups are very important for WordPress websites. The key files to backup on a WordPress website are: wp-content Folder Your WordPress Database It’s fun to download those 2 elements and spin up a local copy of a website. But often there are issues with the database that cause issues with the local version. My favorite way to do backups is when they are automatically included with website hosting. WPEngine has daily backups and it’s easy to create both live and staged versions of a website. Those 2 elements are huge timesavers when there are any website issues. If a website goes down, it’s quick to reset it
Website speed
Checking website speed scores with websites like GTMetrix (link) provide great metrics to determine the health of a website. If a website takes more than a few seconds to load, it needs work. Part of the website maintenance process is reviewing speed scores, and identifying ways to speed the website up. This usually comes down to compressing images and moving unnecessary code, but there are many potential rabbit holes to go into.
Plugin updates
Plugin updates are crucial for the health of the website and security. I’ve seen many websites with neglected plugin updates. One of the first priorities after backing the website up, is updating the plugins. As I mentioned above, plugin updates can sometimes break a website, which is why it’s crucial to have a backup.
Fix broken links
Fixing broken website links is a regular task in website maintenance. Broken links can originate from website changes or from external websites changing their link structures. A quick scan of the website can reveal any broken links. It’s also good to check out Google Search Console for any performance issues.
Look for on-page seo opportunities
This is my favorite step. Check the website for SEO improvements that can be made on a website. There are many great ways to find SEO opportunities, and we use Ahrefs the most, but I also like free tools like SEOptimer. There are usually opportunities to improve website SEO.
Create a Website Using Wordpress : Free Hosting & Sub-domain Certification
I recently completed a Coursera certification on Create a Website Using Wordpress : Free Hosting & Sub-domain. I’ve been working with Wordpress websites for years, but what appealed to me about the course was the free hosting and subdomain. The free hosting can be done through https://www.000webhost.com/ which is run by Hostinger. The problem I encountered is that chrome identifies the website I created in the course as being potentially dangerous. This might change if I purchased an actual domain name, but it might be more trouble than it’s worth. I also hoped that I’d learn more about setting up subdomains, but this turned out to just be the free url that comes with the 000webhost.com account. I was hoping for something like shop.000webhost.com. The course was more suited for beginners, and they gave me a nearly completed medical focused website to work with. Despite these drawbacks, I enjoyed the time working with wordpress.
SEM Rush GA4 for SEO
AIDA marketing model A - awareness → impressions, search volumes I - interest → clicks, D - desire → viewing product pages A - action → purchase/conversion
Digital marketing framework A - awareness → impressions, search volumes (KPI organic search results) C - capture intent → ad to email list, remarketing list E - education & nurture → blog & email outreach S - sales and leads
GA4 Setup Set up data stream Enable enhanced measurement Tag traffic with UTM parameters Set up custom events: use snake case (lower case joined by _) Mark custom events as conversions Connect Google Search Console to GA4 & add to dashboard Engagement → pages → custom dimension → add landing pages Customize reports menu with info you want to add or remove Build out UA reports in GA4 Add GTM for WP to Wordpress Can customize dimensions (data descriptions) and metrics (numbers) From reports, click edit comparisons, then click explore to move in reports to the explore section to play with the data. Use Advertising section
GA4 Key Takeaways: Set strategy, customer touchpoints, path to conversion with AIDA or ACES model.