Web design has a lot of buzz words. So many, that I sometimes feel kind of grossed out after listening to the leaders in this industry talk.  There is something so phony about the way a 21 year old sounds saying “mockup” or “brand”.  I find that as developers become a little older, they become less annoying to listen to.  Some of my favorite podcasters and writers are the  experts who don’t jump to the buzz words.  Plain English is really attractive when someone is working for you, and I try to keep that in mind, whenever I meet a customer.

Having said all of that, it’s hard not to feel like a hypocrite when I talk about “remarketing”.  This is one of those words people are really hot for, nowadays. Unfortunately, it’s the only word to describe this topic.  So, without further preamble …

Let’s Talk About Remarketing

A visitor does not always bite the hook or convert (<- sorry, annoying buzz word, there) when they visit your website. Sometimes, they scroll around, stick an item in their shopping cart and then drop off.  Maybe your site doesn’t have a shopping cart, that’s fine.  But there is some reason you built that site.  Perhaps to get communication started with new customers?  And if you’re a business, then there is a financial value tied to this engagement.  Whether  you’re selling trinkets or your just trying to attract customers, you want your website visitors to engage you somehow.  Whatever that somehow is, we call a conversion.

When a website visitor does not convert, remarketing gives your website a second a chance. By leaving a piece of data called a cookie in the visitor’s browser, your website can tell that user’s Google account and their device that this person should see ads for your business. This is why you often see a lot of ads for a website or even a particular product on a website, after you view it. Remarketing is extremely targeted approach. And it’s fairly affordable.

Generally, I find this niche of web design kind of annoying. Having my own search history thrown back in my face, with a dollar sign attached feels a little intrusive.

But it Does Work

That’s right.  You might feel annoyed that you looked at a drill on HomeDepot.ca and now you keep seeing it, every time you look up a recipe.  I certainly feel annoyed by this.   BUT- someone out there, in fact a lot of people find it convenient.  They  buy stuff, the second time around.

And in a way, this makes sense.  The user has already been “vetted” the second time they see your product.  If they didn’t show interest the first time, they wouldn’t see it a second time.  If you’re selling a product online, or if you’re hoping to gain new leads from your website, then you might see some very impressive results, from remarketing.

It won’t do itself for you.  You need some expertise in the Google Adwords space in order to take advantage of Remarketing.  If you think it’s time to try and grow your sales, and you want to do it for a price your business can afford, then …


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