Ashley Street, Author at RankMonsters

2024 Google Premier Partner

by Ashley Street | Mar 5, 2024 | Google Ad Grants

Rank Monsters has been named a 2024 Google Premier Partner

Oklahoma City-based digital agency Rank Monsters has achieved 2024 Premier Partner status in the Google Partners program.

Rank Monsters’s team of experts provides Ad Grants Management and education services for 501(c)(3) Nonprofits in the United States.

“As a 2024 Premier Partner of Google for the Google Ad Grants program, we are honored to be recognized for our expertise and dedication to helping nonprofits maximize their impact through online advertising. This prestigious designation signifies our commitment to excellence in managing Google Ad Grants campaigns, providing tailored solutions, and driving meaningful results for our clients. We pride ourselves on our deep understanding of the unique challenges and goals of nonprofit organizations, and we leverage our partnership with Google to empower them to reach and engage their audiences effectively. Our team of certified professionals is dedicated to delivering strategic guidance, innovative solutions, and exceptional service to help nonprofits succeed in fulfilling their missions and creating positive change in their communities.”

In February, Google recognized the achievements of top-performing digital marketing partners across the globe by awarding Premier Partner status as part of the Google Partners program. Rank Monsters has been named a 2024 Premier Partner, which means:

- They’re among the top 3% of Google Partners participants in their respective countries, signaling their leading expertise in Google Ads, as well as their ability to forge new client relationships and support their clients’ growth.
- They’re listed on the Google Partners directory, which helps potential clients find top Premier Partners like [Company Name] on their own dedicated page.
- They also receive exclusive benefits that promote client growth and success with Google Ads.

About Google Partners

The Google Partners program is designed for advertising agencies and third parties that manage Google Ads accounts on behalf of other brands or businesses. Its mission is to empower companies by providing them with innovative tools, resources, and support to help their clients succeed and grow online.

Learn more about Rank Monsters and our Google Ad Grants Management.

What is Google Ad Grants?

by Ashley Street | Jan 5, 2024 | Google Ad Grants

Getting Started: Ad Grants Overview

Google Ad Grants is a program by Google, offering eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofits free advertising on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) to reach wider audiences. It provides significant in-kind advertising credits, enabling nonprofits to run text-based ads promoting their missions, programs, and initiatives. Ad Grants offers access to $10,000 per month in free advertising through Google Ads, connecting people with causes since 2003.

Google Ad Grants work just like standard search advertising: displaying text ads alongside search results when people are using Google to learn, to find, to donate, and to connect with your organization and your mission.
Google Ad Grants extends the power of search advertising to eligible 501(c)3 nonprofits at no cost. With $10,000 per month in free Google advertising, nonprofits can create meaningful ads to connect with target audiences in a relevant, actionable, and measurable way.
Google Ad Grants are governed by a distinct set of program policies and guidelines designed to uphold quality standards and foster valuable connections between people and nonprofits.

Ad Grants Eligibility

To qualify for the Ad Grants program, organizations must:

Meet the country-specific requirements for nonprofits
Apply for and receive approval from the Google for Nonprofits program
Maintain a high-quality website with substantial content showcasing the organization’s mission

Learn more about eligibility requirements.

How to Apply for Google Ad Grants

To apply for Google Ad Grants:

Register with TechSoup. Once completed, proceed to register with Google for Nonprofits and follow the application process.
If you are utilizing our management services, we will manage the application process and account setup for your organization. We boast a 100% success rate in securing approvals for nonprofits.

Strategies for Google Ad Grants Success

Unlock the full potential of Google Ad Grants by actively managing and optimizing your advertising campaigns. Through careful refinement of keyword selection, ad copy, and landing pages, you can significantly enhance click-through rates, conversions, and overall effectiveness.

Google Ad Grants offers a valuable opportunity for nonprofits like yours to harness the power of online advertising, reaching broader audiences and furthering your cause to drive positive social impact.

For inquiries about Google Ad Grants or our management services, please email us at sales@rankmonsters.org.

Website Analytics Benchmarks

by Ashley Street | Apr 25, 2019 | Google Analytics, Internet Marketing

When you’re diving into the sea of data that Google Analytics collects for your website, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or not understand what all of the metrics are telling you. In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the more commonly used metrics, such as bounce rate, time on site, pageviews, conversions, and what the generally accepted website analytics benchmarks are for each, based on information provided by Google and by various SEO experts in the field today.

What is Bounce Rate?

Google defines a “bounce” as a single-page session on your website. That is, when a visitor follows a link to your website and leaves the website without visiting other pages. Your website’s bounce rate is simply the number of all single-page sessions (bounces) divided by the total number of all sessions on your website.

When viewing bounce rates, it’s important to keep your website’s goal in mind. If your goal is to sell a product or to get visitors to explore your website, then a high bounce rate is a major warning sign. However, if your website is geared to provide all the necessary information on a single page, a high bounce rate is probably a good sign. It means they didn’t have to search your website or go to other pages to find what they needed; everything was in one place and your website is performing exactly as you want it to.

Bounce Rate Standards

Bounce rates don’t currently have an across the board standard, as each website has a different goal, and each goal has a different bounce rate. Also, contact us pages and blogs will typically have high bounce rates, as visitors are looking solely to interact with that page alone. Under the lens of a worldwide “average” bounce rate benchmark, anything over 50% is considered high and worth taking a look at, and anything between 20-50% is considered low. Anything under 20% is likely an error. Again, these are worldwide standards. If a website is over 50% bounce rate, it doesn’t mean the website is performing poorly. You simply need to then look at the purpose of the website and if the bounce rate reflects it well. If anything, bounce rate is best used to give you information on visitors and their experience on your site.

Bounce Rate Benchmarks (per Google Analytics)

Landing pages with one call to action: 70-90%
Content Websites: 40-60%
Lead Generation: 30-50%
Blogs: 70-98%

The following are some helpful graphs that provide a closer look at bounce rate benchmarks by device, industry, channel, and device type (all graphs are courtesy of CXL).

Time on Site Benchmarks

Anything under 20 seconds is a major red flag, as that’s barely enough time for a visitor to look at the page, much less read its content. 40-50 seconds is a great start, as it means you have their attention. In general, anything over 2 minutes is the accepted standard for websites.

Pageview Benchmarks

Pageviews are much like bounce rates; there is no universal benchmark. Again, if your website is information based, a single pageview could mean your website is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do: provide everything in one place. For the sake of discussion, however, let’s look at the e-commerce industry standards:

1.58 sessions/user
5 avg. pages/session
3 mins avg. session duration
41.26% bounce rate

What does this tell us? For e-commerce, having a high number of pages/session is good, as you want people to browse their products. Having a sessions/user number that is higher than 1 is ideal, as it means visitors are returning to the site at least once. A 3 min average session duration is also good, as that’s a very good time for a user to spend on a website (remember, 40-50 seconds good and 2+ minutes is the benchmark). Lastly, a 41.26% bounce rate means over half of their visitors are going beyond their landing page and interacting with the site, which is exactly what you want to see.

Conversion Rate Benchmarks

The average conversion rate in Google Ads across all industries is 3.17% on the search network and 0.46% on the display network. Using the health & medical industry as an example, the 2018 averages were as follows:

3.27% CTR for search ads
0.59% CTR for the Google Display Network
3.36% avg. conversion rate for search ads
0.82% avg. conversion rate for the Google Display Network

Other Useful Information

In 2016, 42% of companies had hired a content strategist executive.
As of 2017, content marketing (i.e. blogs) gets 3x more leads than paid search advertising.

We hope this has been a helpful overview of some of Google Analytics’ most commonly used metrics and that you have gained a deeper understanding of what these metrics can tell you about not only the performance of your website, but also the visitor experience and engagement with your content.

RankMonsters is a Google Ad Grant Certified Professional Agency

by Ashley Street | Jul 31, 2018 | Google Ads, Internet Marketing

Our team at RankMonsters is proud to announce that we’re now listed as Google Ad Grant Certified Professionals. As one of the first agencies to be included in this program, we’re very excited to continue our work with both the Ad Grants team at Google and with nonprofits around North America and beyond.

Google Ads Logo

The Goal Of A Certified Google Ad Grant Professional

According to Google, the goal of the Certified Professionals Community is to “enhance the Ad Grants experience for professionals and Grantees alike.” Google recognizes that there are many challenges for nonprofits when it comes to understanding the Google Ads platform and managing the Ad Grant. Through this initiative, nonprofits will be able to find trustworthy agencies and partners to help apply for and manage their Ad Grants.

When you partner with RankMonsters to manage your Google Ad Grant, you get an experienced and engaged partner to help with every aspect of your Grant account. We’ve worked with nonprofits across the US and Canada of every type and size, from single-person organizations to large museums and libraries.

What We Bring To The Table

Here are a few of the benefits you can see when you work with RankMonsters to manage your Google Ad Grant:

Fast Approval – If you don’t have the Grant yet, our team can help you get approved quickly and without unnecessary delays.
Free Applications – We will help your nonprofit apply for the Google Ad Grant for no charge and with no obligation to use our management services.
Experienced Management – Our team has years of experience managing both standard Google Ads campaigns and Ad Grant accounts. We can recognize issues before they become problems, and help respond to and solve them fast.
Full Reporting – Every month you get a complete and detailed report of your campaign’s performance and progress.
No Strings – Our goal is to help your nonprofit fulfill its mission. Because of that, all of our services are straightforward and can be canceled at any time.

Let Us Help You Help Others

If you’re interested in partnering with us to apply for or manage your Google Ad Grant, simply fill out the form on our website or give us a call at (405) 605-8218 today. We’re ready to help your organization take the next steps toward online success!

Google Makes the Switch To HTTPS Mandatory

by Ashley Street | Jun 28, 2018 | Google Update, Internet Marketing, SEO, Website Design

Take a quick look at your website’s URL. Do you see a little green lock and the word “Secure” next to it? If you do, congratulations – you’re on the right side of technology history. But if you don’t see that lock, you need to be aware of Google’s latest mandatory change. Starting in July 2018, Google will begin marking all sites that aren’t using HTTPS as “Not Secure.” Additionally, you could start to be penalized in organic rankings. So what do you need to do?

A Quick Primer on HTTP and HTTPS

For many years, HTTP – or HyperText Transfer Protocol – was the default way information was transmitted across the web. HTTP allows computers to talk to each other and share information in a standardized way. Any time you enter an address in your web browser, click on a link, or submit your password to a website, you’re actually making an HTTP request to another computer somewhere in the world. The content of your request, and the response you get from the other computer, determines what comes up on your screen.

The problem with this system is that it wasn’t built with the modern Internet in mind. Today, people do all kind of sensitive and personal things online. This includes transferring money, writing confidential emails, managing medical information and more. But HTTP doesn’t keep any of this information private. It’s possible to extract sensitive data like passwords, credit card details, and other personal info when you communicate with a website over HTTP.

This is the problem HTTPS solves. HTTPS – HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure – uses encryption to scramble information transmitted between computers over the Internet. When a website uses HTTPS, you can feel safe entering your password, financial details, or other personal information. Everything is protected at all points between your computer and the one you’re communicating with.

Google is pushing for more sites to use HTTPS to protect both standard users and websites. Additionally, HTTPS benefits you by allowing you to use new features on your website, like allowing users to take and send pictures directly or requesting a user’s location.

How Can I Get HTTPS on My Website?

To have your website marked as Secure, the first step is to purchase and install an SSL certificiate. SSL certificates are available from a wide range of vendors and authorities. However, finding a trustworthy one and installing it on your site can be complicated. You might not have much experience managing your website’s hosting and services. In this case we recommend reaching out to your webmaster or hosting provider for help.

After you have the certificate, you’ll also need to redirect your old, non-HTTPS website to your new secure site. You can use 301 Redirects on your site to automatically send visitors to secure pages. Setting up 301 redirects isn’t too complicated, but it can be time-consuming, especially on larger sites. Again, a good webmaster can help you handle this task and ensure your site is set up correctly.

How We Can Help

Alternatively, you can work with a dedicated partner like RankMonsters. At our agency, we provide website hosting, SSL certificate setup, and website optimization packages for all types of businesses and organizations. This includes setting up HTTPS, making sure all your pages are redirected, and keeping your site up-to-date and optimized. We can help your site manage the transition from HTTP to HTTPS smoothly and professionally. Plus, we’re always happy to answer questions and to help you get results.

If you want to learn more about helping your website perform better, contact RankMonsters today at (405) 605-8218. Or, you can fill out our form to request more information. We’re looking forward to helping you succeed online, so contact us today!

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