Pay Per Click Blog

Every Little Detail Counts in PPC

2008-11-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

When considering PPC ad copywriting, the title is true. Even spaces will be counted.

Suppose you are selling wristband . Or is that wrist band? Google both and you'll probably get different results. Ignoring the paid search ads, when Googled "wrist band" the top five results were:

www.wristbandsupply.com
en.wikipedia.org
www.wristband.com
www.wristbandexpress.com
www.reminderband.com

But when I Googled "wristband", top five results were:

en.wikipedia.org
www.wristband.com
www.wristbandswithamessage.com
www.wristbandconnection.com
www.trendywristbands.com

So what do organic search listings have to do with paid search listings? It is nothing except that when you bid on a keyword, the specific keyword that you bid on is the page on which your ad will appear in the SERPS. If you bid on "wrist band" then your ad will show with the first set of results; if you bid on "wristband" then your ad will show with the second set of results. Best option is to bid on both and if you have a tight budget then you have to make a choice. Notice that some of those organic listings rank for "wrist band" but that the word in the description or title of the SERP listing is "wristband". That's because those website optimizers did a good job of targeting both keywords, but you don't have the space to do that in a PPC ad so you'll have to target one or the other. The best way to target both is by using two separate ads - one for each keyword.

Meaning of Quality Score and User Experience

2008-11-16T19:44:00.002-08:00

One of the measuring tools for Google's Quality Score is content relevancy or user experience. No one other than Google really knows what that means. But there's a pretty good idea about what it is. Google makes sure that its PPC advertisers are advertising products that satisfies customer's needs and that when a searcher clicks on an ad they don't go to a page that advertises something other than what the ad that got them there was advertising. If you are doing a PPC campaign like that, you'll get a low content relevancy score and that will contribute to your overall quality score. Google looks at more than only content because they are fretful with user experience and it is actually the part of the quality score that is the most difficult to measure.Suppose a visitor clicks on your ad then goes back to the SERP again within 10 seconds. What it really means? Your visitor didn't like what you had to sell or because she clicked the wrong ad? Possibly she meant to click the one above or below it instead. The Google AdWords team may be using the conversion rate to calculate the user experience. If you have a low conversion rate, if you are using the Conversion Optimizer tool it is easy for Google to understand that your landing page quality is too low for users to have a good experience. Content Relevancy and User Experience should go hand by hand.

Motion Charts in Google Analytics

2008-11-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Google is improving their Analytics product once again. Now they have included motion charts in Google Analytics. It allows you to see a video presentation of your statistics. Isn't it really cool? In Google Analytics Blog you can see the detailed discussion on the new features. Let us see how this change contributes something to our pay per click campaigns. The most significant feature of the motion charts is time tracking. In place of just seeing trends in a two-dimensional framework, you can actually visualize them over a set time period. The bounces in the colored dots that symbolize referrers allow you to see at a look that which keywords are performing the best over a period of time. You can see the heights, the depths, and the steady states without having to change this setting, click this link, back up and reset, etc. It seems the motion charts being a good first place to look for trending patterns. After you’ve visualized the general trends you can use those sections of the trend that you want to get a deeper analysis of.

PPC For Special Holiday Advertising

2008-11-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

December is the month for three separate and simultaneous holidays. Hanukkah starts on Dec. 21 at sun down and continues for eight days. Christmas falls on Dec. 25. And Kwanzaa (an African-American cultural holiday) starts on Dec. 26 and continues still Jan. 1. If you have products that demand to all three market sectors then you should not advertise them mutually in the same campaigns. Your objective should be targeting your holiday advertising to the right market. All these holidays symbolize something very important to those who observe them. If your products demand to each market sector then you'll want your PPC campaigns to target each sector independently. What you should do is do the proper keyword research for each targeted campaign and optimizing your ad groups for different landing pages. Try to know your market better and approach it with your customer's needs in mind. That is the perfect holiday advertising and you can achieve your goals in this holiday season.

Local PPC Optimization Tips

2008-11-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Local PPC advertising is like local geo-targeted SEO. You have to strike the right phrases for the right market. Suppose you are running a flower decoration service in Fontana, California. What has to happen for you to hold the best quality score possible and the lowest bids on your significant keywords to drive targeted traffic to your landing page? First, you have to create a well optimized landing page that forces people to click and convert. Obviously your sales will increase. If your landing page doesn't convert, there is no meaning in spending money to get traffic to it. Make sure that you have optimized your landing page to the best of your capability and putting your calls to action in the right place. Now you can set up your pay per click campaign. Use the same keywords that you are using for your landing page. Don't add complex keywords. Make sure that you are targeting the right geographic key terms. For instance, optimizing your landing page and PPC ad with "Orchid garland" won't cut it. You've also got to target them to "Fontana, California" residents. That means you have to add sufficient of the geo-targeted term to your landing page and pay per click ad content to make your quality score go up and bids for the keywords go lower. It sounds nice but it requires some testing from your part. Geo-targeting starts with the right keywords and ends with the right target market.

Google Nixed Yahoo! Partnership

2008-11-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

Everyone was talking about it Google's plan to make partnership with Yahoo! in providing pay per click ads for Yahoo!s network. At last Google pulled out of the partnership plan. It seems Google pulled out of the deal because of anxiety over the Department of Justice looking closely at the deal to make sure that no antitrust laws were being violated. Google likely didn't want to take a chance of the Department of Justice interfering in its business practices as that would have revealed some informational secrets that Google didn't want to release. Yahoo! is still defending the deal. How will this new situation affect advertisers? The advertisers won't be able to increase their reach to the Yahoo! network if they are Google advertisers only. If they want to reach Yahoo! Users, then they will have to advertise through Yahoo!s PPC interface. Though Yahoo!s PPC interface is less expensive, it is not as effective as Google's.

Update on Improvements to Ads Quality

2008-11-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

Google has improved the ad quality scores. These improvements better evaluate the precise quality of your ads and improve the way Google determines which ads show in the yellow region above the search results. AdWords has always accounted for the influence of ad position on CTR and removed it from the Quality Score. This specific improvement updates this system to make it fresher and more accurate.

The main features of the updation are -

1) More precise Quality Score calculation

2) Higher quality ads above the search results

These enhancements may cause changes to your ad position, spend, and performance.Let us wait and see.

12 Steps to Effective Online Budget Allocation

2008-11-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

I got these points from a great article written by Mel Carson in adcenter community. According to mel, the 12 steps are -

1. Retention
2. Intention
3. Attention
4. Detention
5. Coordination
6. Collaborate
7. Differentiate
8. Speculate
9. Analyse
10. Plagiarise
11. Optimise
12. Economise

For the detailed version of this points, visit http://adcentercommunity.com/blogs/analytics/archive/2008/10/20/12-Steps-To-Effective-Online-Budget-Allocation.aspx

Seminars on Google Adwords & Analytics

2008-11-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

There are in-person training for AdWords or Analytics this moth. See the schedule.

AdWords

November 3: Los Angeles, CA - AdWords 301: Advanced
November 5: Seattle, WA - AdWords 301: Advanced
November 13-14: Philadelphia, PA - AdWords 101: Beginner, AdWords 201: Intermediate
November 17: Las Vegas, NV - AdWords 301: Advanced
December 1-2: Honolulu, HI - AdWords 101: Beginner, AdWords 201: Intermediate
December 2: Washington DC - AdWords 301: Advanced
December 4: Houston, TX - AdWords 301: Advanced

Analytics

November 5-6: Los Angeles, CA - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced
December 8-9: Seattle, WA - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced
December 8-9: Montreal, QC - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced

Sign up for Seminars at least 7 days in advance. For more information visit http://www.google.com/awseminars.

Separate Metrics for Google and Search Partners

2008-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

Google has changed the way our Campaign Summary and Ad Group Summary pages show statistics. This will give us an additional level of facet into our campaign performance. Before, these pages divided statistics into two categories: search, which included Google and search partners, and the content network. Now, it will show one set of statistics for Google and another set aggregating search partner performance. Search partners include AOL, Ask.com, and many other search sites around the web. We can view ad group or campaign performance at a summary level, or broken down by different combinations of Google, their search partners and content network. It is heard that separate Google and aggregate search partner statistics will soon be available in the Report Center.

Google Marketer's Playbook at ad:tech New York

2008-10-29T01:34:00.000-07:00

The Google Marketer's Playbook is a series of educational talks where their experts talk about strategies for making the most of AdWords and other Google products such as Google Analytics and YouTube. You can attend the Google Marketer's Playbook and hear advice on topics such as optimization strategy, measurement and tracking, and increasing reach during the upcoming ad:tech digital marketing conferences.

The next session will be held at the 2008 ad:tech New York show November 3rd and 4th, and the talks are open to all exhibit hall pass holders. To obtain a free exhibit hall pass, visit www.ad-tech.com and click on the 'register' link next to the show you will be attending. Following the talks, attendees will be able to participate in live Q&A sessions with the experts.The Google Marketer's Playbook at ad:tech San Francisco, Miami and Chicago have already over, but you can watch recordings of the sessions in this YouTube playlist. These videos are also live on the Google Business Channel which also contains more presentations and webinars about Google's business products and advertising solutions.

adCenter Fall Upgrade: New Features

2008-10-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

MSN adCenter upgraded the adCenter interface and added new features to help make managing your adCenter campaigns easier. The first thing you'll notice when you sign in to adCenter is a new look and feel. You'll also notice some new features.

Improvements include:

Campaign Management: ability to pause and resume ads and keywords, geo-targeting enhancements, and improved performance reporting on the Ads page
Editorial Improvements: faster reviews, dynamic feedback about why ads and keywords were disapproved, and inline notification when dynamic text causes your ads to exceed character limits

User Management: if previously you were only able to have one user, now you can create multiple account users

Content Ads (U.S. only): get keyword bid suggestions and performance estimates for your content ads

For those of you who like to keep on top of what's new with adCenter, adCenter has also added a New Features link to the top of each adCenter page. You'll also find a What’s New section on your home page that lists the three most important adCenter updates. These new sections link to further information about our new features and how to understand and use them.

Source - Adcenter Blog

Use Google Analytics to Optimize Your Ads

2008-10-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Google Analytics is one of the best webmaster tools in the internet. In addition to tracking traffic, you can use it optimize your landing pages and your pay per click ads. What you have to do is in Google Analytics check for Entrance Sources and Entrance Keywords. The keywords used to locate your site is really useful because if you know the most trendy keywords that people use to find your website then you can concentrate on those keywords in developing your content and your ad copy. For example, if you don’t have a web page related to one of your top 10 entrance keywords then you should possibly think about creating a landing page optimized for that keyword. Then start an ad group targeted for that landing page and using the same keyword. Google Analytics help you to optimize your website. You can improve your overall optimization and PPC will register pretty good leads.

Impression Share Reports

2008-10-23T00:01:00.001-07:00

Have you heard about Impression Share? Impression share is a new AdWords metric that represents the percentage of impressions where your ads were shown out of the total available impressions in the market you were targeting. This metric is available at the campaign and account level for search.

Impression share is available as a column option under 'Level of Detail' when you run an Account or Campaign Performance report. Data is available for search campaigns. To run a Campaign Performance report with this metric, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.

2. Click on the Reports tab and then on the Create a New Report link.

3. For 'Report Type,' select the radio button next to Campaign Performance or Account Performance.

4. For 'View,' choose Summary (for an overview report) or Hourly (by date) (if you want to see hourly data associated with specific calendar dates) or Hourly (regardless of date)*, Daily, Day of Week (for data associated with each day of the week), Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly from the pull-down menu. *Note that although Impression Share is available down to the hourly level, the data is only available from February 15, 2007 onwards.

5. Select the 'Date Range' for your report by clicking on the pull-down menu and choosing the time span (i.e. 'Last seven days,' ' Last thirty days,' etc.). You can also use clickable calendars to choose specific date ranges for Summary, Daily, and Weekly views. Select the campaign or campaigns to include in this report by choosing the radio button for All campaigns, or Manually select from a list and then clicking Add next to the campaign names on the list provided.

6. Within 'Advanced Settings,' select Add or Remove Columns. Check the box next to 'Impression Share.' You can further customize your Campaign Performance report by clicking on Add or Remove Columns to refine your report based on preferred column topics such as 'Impressions,' 'Clicks,' 'Avg CTR,' 'Avg CPM,' 'Invalid Clicks,' etc. *Note that impression share reporting data is available from February 15, 2007, onward, and that these reports can not be run with hourly views. Additional column sets will be visible if you have Conversion Tracking enabled.

7. Also in 'Advanced Settings,' you can apply filters to restrict the display of report rows based on specific criteria. Click Filter Your Results to customize your filters; up to four filters may be created by clicking the Add another restriction link.

8. Enter a unique Report Name for your report and check the box to save your settings as a template if you want to re-use them in the future.
9. For 'Templates, Scheduling and Email,' schedule your report (if you want it to run again automatically at another time), and, if you want it delivered via email, provide an email address and choose your preferred report format (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html)

10. Click Create Report.

To export and download your report when it is finished running:

1. Log in to your AdWords account.
2. Click on the Reports tab.
3. Click into the Report Center
4. Click the name of the report you would like to view.
5. Select the format in which you'd like to export your report: .csv, .csv (for Excel), .tsv, .xml, or .html.

Google TV Ads Announces New Partnerships

2008-10-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

On October 16th, Google announced two strategic partnerships that will make it easier for advertisers to manage their Google TV Ads media buys within their existing systems.For advert isers who use CoreDirect, Google's partnership with COREMedia Systems will allow you to view your Google TV Ads sales and response data next to your other media buys and results within CoreDirect. In addition, their partnership with Harris Corporation will help make more inventory available to Google TV Ads advertisers, helping them expand their reach to more potential customers.

AdWords Conversion Optimizer Available to Many more Camapaigns

2008-10-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Any campaign using AdWords Conversion Tracking with at least 50 conversions in the last 30 days is now eligible to use the Conversion Optimizer. Thus the Conversion Optimizer is now available to many more campaigns. Reports are coming from different PPC users that the Conversion Optimizer now delivers better performance overall. The Conversion Optimizer uses your conversion tracking data to get you more conversions at a lower cost. It achieves this by optimizing your placement in each ad auction to avoid unprofitable clicks and get you as many profitable clicks as possible. You might already follow a similar strategy by bidding higher for keywords that convert more often and lower for keywords that convert less often. But the Conversion Optimizer can adjust your ad's placement based on many other factors, including the keyword's broad match query, the user's location, and the conversion rates of Google's search and content partner sites.

Tips and Tools for Retailer - Maximize Your Holiday Sales

2008-10-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Google has compiled some tips and tools that can help you optimize your ad campaigns, marketing channels, and website for the coming busiest shopping season. Here's an example tip you'll find: specifically mentioning any special holiday promotions you are running in your ad text drives additional interest from consumers. Clear and compelling ads with season-specific text are good to generate more clicks. As for tools, Google has several offerings that retailers can use to help drive additional traffic and sales this holiday season. Best example is Google Product Search - which allows shoppers to search for and find things they want to buy online. You can use Product Search to promote your goods and drive holiday traffic to your store for free. With the holidays just around the corner, now is a good time to make sure that your site is in the best shape for maximizing your traffic and revenue. Please visit the Holiday tips page for more information, and remember - it's never too early to start preparing for the season.

Note - Google Checkout is currently available only to merchants in the US and UK, and Google Product Search is currently available only to merchants in the US, UK, and Germany.

Visit Adwords Blog for more details

AdWords Editor 6.5 for Windows and Mac

2008-10-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Google released version 6.5 of AdWords Editor. This release includes several features to help us navigate and manage our account, such as a new Keyword Opportunities tool, horizontal scrolling in the data view, and auto-sizing columns. New features are included and you can see them in the release notes. If you're already using AdWords Editor, you'll be prompted to upgrade automatically. This update won't require you to re-download your account, and it won't affect your comments and unposted changes. When prompted simply choose the 'Update without Backup' option. Then, after you upgrade, your account will already be in the new version of AdWords Editor.

If you're not using AdWords Editor, go to Google website [http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwordseditor/] and download 'AdWords Editor'.

Source - adwords blog

Improve Landing Page's Credibility by Favicon

2008-10-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

I found one article like this today. I never used a Favicon and don't know how effective it will be. Read and post your opinion about this.

Landing page optimization is one of the most important aspects of PPC advertising. But there is something else you can do to improve your conversions on your landing page and it has nothing to do with optimization per Search Engine. It’s called a Favicon. A Favicon is a way to brand your landing page and give it more trust and credibility. In fact, your entire website should have a Favicon. But you can use a separate Favicon for your landing page, or you can use the same one site wide. If your landing page is a separate website altogether then it should have its own Favicon. A Favicon screams credibility. When web users see the Favicon they immediately think the site is there to stay and not just here-today-gone-tomorrow illusion. That’s important for increasing conversions. Add a Favicon to your landing page and improve your trust factor right away.

Differences in Analytics of Google AdWords and MSN adCenter

2008-10-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

The major reason why I prefer Google AdWords PPC over MSN adCenter is the distinction in their analytics package. If you are using MSN adCenter, it is mandatory to insert code onto your landing page and a link will be appeared on your pages. The link is pointing to the MSN adCenter privacy policy and the link allows your site visitors to read the privacy policy at a quick look. I favor Google AdWords because I don't want to include a link on my page at all. I am not against any privacy policy and I think that is necessary. But I feel it is better to put my own privacy policy than to give a link to another web site's privacy policy. It looks more proficient and it won't confuse the visitor. Even if the MSN adCenter link on my landing page opens up a new window for the MSN adCenter privacy policy, I still don't like the link to be appeared in my page. But if you are happy with the service provide to you by MSN adCenter, then go ahead. Continue use it. I just express my opinion.

Can I Run a PPC Campaign To Promote a Blog?

2008-10-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

As you know blogging is very popular today. These days it is used as a business medium - marketing tool for products, a sales tool, a traffic originator for AdSense, a link generation tool and so on. If you can do all these, what about running a PPC campaign for your blog? Many have a doubt that whether it is possible to use PPC to create traffic to their blog and make money out of that. Yes it is possible. But it is difficult to get a real ROI by maintaining a blog and using PPC to bring traffic to it.

The best ways to make money on a blog using a PPC campaign to drive traffic -

* Use your blog to sell a product
* Use your blog as an affiliate promotion strategy
* Use your blog to attract people to connect to your community
* Force people to subscribe to your opt-in list

Make sure that your call to action is strong and enough relevant content should be there in the index and inside pages. Writing a PPC ad for blog is the same as that of writing ad for a website. No need to worry what your landing page is. Success depends on constant testing and monitoring.

(If You Want) Say Goodbye to Google Site Stats Logo

2008-10-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

It is no longer compulsory for the conversion tracking users to display the "Google Site Stats" logo on the conversion pages of their web sites.Before, a small but visible text segment that read "Google Site Stats" automatically appeared on the page where the conversion tracking code was placed on our web site. The logo would appear only after a conversion happened via our AdWords ad. It provided converting visitors links to information about AdWords conversion tracking and instructions on how to block the tracking. Many advertisers have told Google that the image is not going with their privacy policy. The users were able to notice the tracking technologies using in our sites. At last Google allowed to use that logo as an optional one. If you have installed conversion tracking code on your web site, the Site Stats logo will continue to display until you take further action. It is better to mention about the removal of the logo in your site's privacy policy.

Should I Have More Than One Landing Page?

2008-09-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

I highly recommend multiple landing pages and I have reasons for that. Different pages will do well in different search engines. It is because each search engine has its own ranking criteria. For Google, we can create a more text content oriented page with all the product descriptions, service offerings and provided benefits of using this service. For yahoo, we can create a landing page with images, testimonials and content in a brief form. Use bullets to show features and benefits. Think which are the keywords you are optimizing your landing page for. We can create two separate landing pages with similar keywords and each could rank well for their respective keywords in the same search engine. To do this, you have to write a separate ad for each landing page. Sounds bit odd right? But I've heard many companies who use this tactic quite successfully. Normally, I use more than one landing page. You have to decide which campaign needs a second landing page and set goals according to that.

Google TV Ads partnering with Bloomberg TV

2008-09-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

On September 25, Google announced that they're partnering with Bloomberg TV to offer Bloomberg TV's national inventory to advertisers through the Google TV Ads platform. Bloomberg TV is a 24-hour business and financial news channel with more than 54 million listeners in the US.

This builds on Google's partnership with NBCU( see my previous post -
Google & NBC Universal Partnering Up), and will provide advertisers with broader audience reach and access to desirable viewer demographics. Google TV Ads advertisers will have access to premium inventory on Bloomberg TV very soon, so stay tuned for further announcements. Currently, advertisers can target Bloomberg TV through Google DISH Network inventory available on the Google TV Ads platform. Google's partnership with Bloomberg TV means that advertisers will be able to reach all Bloomberg TV viewers in the US.

Integrative PPC Campaigns

2008-09-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

What will you do when you start a new PPC campaign? I mean whether you keep your new campaign as a stand alone one or integrate it with your existing campaigns? You might try being more integrative with your practicw and see whether you get better results or not. If you integrate your new PPC campaigns into your current marketing scheme, what you already do should be successful enough to benefit from an add-on. If it is not successful and beneficial enough then there is no point in doing that. PPC integration is one of the crucial aspects of your total marketing plan. The true meaning of PPC integration is taking the most successful parts of your other marketing campaigns and making them work together with a PPC advertising. Even if you are using off-line marketing, article marketing, blogging or display advertising, you want your pay per click advertising to compliment your success. If you are using the same keywords and landing pages for your campaigns then you can measure the difference in results using an analytics application like google analytics. It is better to Take your pay per click campaigns and integrate them.