Google Keyword Search Volume Released

Posted on July 9, 2008 
Filed Under Google AdWords, PPC News | 1 Comment

I got all excited when I read some ppc blog posts showing new search volume numbers that had been released in Google’s Keyword tool. I hurried to my bookmark bar, opened up Adwords, clicked on the Google Keyword tool and…. wait for it… nothing. Booo. I was dissapointed like a kid who wanted a toy bb gun for Christmas and got a one piece pink bunny pj suit complete with fuzzy feet (2 points for those who got the Christmas movie reference there).

BUT

Today, I loged into my internet marketing campaigns and say a message in my MCC saying that the tool was available and the keyword data was there!

“You can now see statistics on the approximate number of search queries
matching your keywords. This data allows you to better plan your budget
and pick keywords most likely to return quality leads, which in turn
can help improve your ROI. Learn more|Dismiss this message“

WHOOO HOOOO

Here’s an interesting question… what happens to tools like Wordze.com, Keyword Discovery and others?

Was it just a freak coincidence that I got this email today from Wordze with a special $4 promotion?


“I hope everyone is enjoying July. As I had talked
about to some of you, I have something really special for July that is going to
help you nock the socks off of your affiliate earnings.

Until July 14th you can send your readers to the
Url below, and they will be able to get access to Wordze for ALL of July for
only $4.

Sign Up Here

Other than that… Enjoy the rest of the month, and best of
luck!

Levi

Wordz

What NOT to do when Uploading your PPC Campaign

Posted on July 2, 2008 
Filed Under Bloopers, Google AdWords, Local PPC, Rants | 1 Comment

I’ve made some dumb mistakes in my day. Most of my mistakes seem to involve a spelling mistake of some sort. I haven’t (thank goodness) done this…yet.

I should call TorontoTourism.com and offer them a quick campaign optimization. I expect this add might be pulling their CTR down a little :)

Getting Back Into Blogging with ScribeFire

Posted on July 1, 2008 
Filed Under Firefox, Rants | 2 Comments

Wow… it has been a long time. Where have I been? Well, I was in Seattle where I finally got to meet up with James Zolman from semvironment (check out his new site design if you haven’t already). His first comments were: “Nice to finally meet you Adam, why aren’t you blogging anymore?”

So, there you have it. I have taken his advice and am back at it. I just downloaded ScribeFire, a nice little Firefox plugin that allows me to blog from within Firefox. I am taking it out for a little test drive, so far so good.

Microsoft AdCentre Affiliate Program Closing?

Posted on February 21, 2008 
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

I received an email yesterday from the Microsoft AdCentre Affiliate program team stating that effective February 28th 2008, they are closing their affiliate program and coupons for Microsoft AdCentre. Anyone else recieved this?

I logged into the affiliate system to check for any messages there and didn’t see anything to state they are ending their affiliate program.

If this is legit… a few questions come to mind

1. Is this due to the “Microhoo” fiasco (yes, I used the word I hate… I feel so filthy!)

2. Does Microsoft have all the advertisers it needs? I expect we know the answer to that!

3. Was $35 per new account to much for the great Microsoft to handle?

4. Were people gaming the system? (Google AdWords example…but the principal applies)

Whatever the case… it makes for some interesting news!

Dear Google… Some AdWords & Analytics Features We Need… Part 1

Posted on February 19, 2008 
Filed Under Analytics, Content Networks, Google AdWords, Rants | 3 Comments

Every now and again, I write down something I would really like Google to improve upon. As a regular user of Google AdWords and Google Analytics, I always seem to come across “fixes” that I would love to see Google make. Rather than sitting on them, I thought I would post them to this humble little blog and hope that one day in the not to distant future, some of them might be acted upon.1. Changing between profiles in Google Analytics.

1. Accessing Accounts from Google Analytics
I manage roughly 40 PPC campaigns though my MCC. Almost every one of them has Google Analytics running on the account. Every so often, I’m mucking about in an analytics profile and want to check another account’s Analytics data. Instead of jumping to the account through the drop down menu at the top of my screen (like the one in my MCC) I have to go back into my MCC client list, select the client, select the Analytics tab, profile and finally the data I want to see.

Trivial? Possibly, but this is my wish list not yours!

So, my first wish is to allow those with MCC access the ability to navigate between their accounts analytics data with ease.

2. Invoice Reporting

It would be great if I could schedule an invoice to be sent to me (or better yet, my clients accounting department) every time Google charges a credit card. They have a good reporting center already, how hard would it be to add a report generating feature in the Billing Summary page.

3. Multiple Conversion Codes

For some accounts, there are multiple conversion opportunities that should be tracked differently. Lets face it, a product purchase is more valuable to an account than a newsletter sign up. Granted, multiple goals can be set up using Google Analytics however having multiple conversion metrics would go a long way to helping optimize campaigns and keywords long term.

4. More than 4 Analytics Goals

Having the ability to track more than 4 goals in Google Analytics would help… a lot!

5. Adding the Sites I WANT in Site Targeted Campaigns

Running a content network campaign is a great way to find lower cost clicks on relevant sites. A best practice is then to take the sites which have produced good traffic and conversions and place them into a site targeted campaign. The problem? All to often, the system won’t allow me to add the site I wanted… and was available in my content network campaign (I might add). The solution? Calling my Google Rep and asking them to create a site pack is the current option - but why use up your valuable Google employee resources? Just allow me to add the sites I want!

Sorry for the rant…

Please feel free to add any features you would like to see in the comments (the link will be followed :) )

Tracking EXACT PPC Keywords with Google Analytics

Posted on February 15, 2008 
Filed Under Analytics, Google AdWords, PPC News, PPC Optimization | 5 Comments

First, my apologies for not posting. There was a death in my family and the majority of my time was spent with loved ones as well as trying to stay on top of client work. January and February have been particularly busy with new contracts and clients over at my Toronto internet marketing firm, Spark Internet Marketing.

For those using Google Analytics and wanting to get an edge on your PPC competition, this filter and script is a must. This filter and java script file allows you to pull in the EXACT keyword string used by people coming to your website through PPC ads. As you might now, you are able to see this data from Organic searches but PPC traffic was another story. If you were advertising using broad match for the term Barbados resort but a user typed in beach resort in Barbados you ad would show. In Google Analytics, you would see a visitor attributed to the term Barbados resort in your PPC traffic stats. This filter pulls that data in and displays it in the user defined field.

I was using an old filter posted by a great PPC resource, and newly named Semvironment, but unfortunately it seemed to stop reporting data on January 15th. I then came across a similar tool over at ROI Revolution. The only drawback was it didn’t work with the new version of Google Analytics. Thanks to Michael and his team, they just posted a new version of their filter and script that works with Google’s new code.

In the coming days, I will post how I use this filter to help optimize my accounts.

Advice for Creating Site Targeted Campaigns

Posted on February 6, 2008 
Filed Under Content Networks, Google AdWords, PPC Optimization | Leave a Comment

I wrote up a nice post explaining the “Secrets to Success” for creating site placement campaigns and content network campaigns over at Spark Internet Marketing. Check it out, I think you will find it useful for your paid search campaigns.

 

Tools & Advice for Creating Local PPC Campaigns

Posted on February 4, 2008 
Filed Under Google AdWords, Local PPC, PPC Optimization, PPC Set Up | 1 Comment

Creating and managing a locally based PPC campaign for a client can be difficult, especially if you don’t reside in your clients area. I’m a Canadian who managers a number of locally based US clients. Though I like to believe my geographic knowledge of America is fairly astute, I still don’t know half of the smaller cities around major metropolitan centers in the US. Thus, I have compiled a couple tools to assist my “geographically challenged self” and to help you. Additionally, I have learned a couple of best practices when creating locally targeted campaigns which you might find helpful.

1. Local Adwords & Keyword List Generator

This tool is great! Simply add in your keywords, select the zip code and radius you are targeting to and presto - a list of keyphrases with the city names in that zip code. Whats even handier, is the ability to remove city names for areas you don’t want to target. It also has the option to wrap your keyphrases with phrase and exact matching parameters for Google AdWords.

2. IP Address Lookup

As you may know, Google’s geographic targeting is based on a users IP. Often a user may have an IP address located in a different geographic area than where they may be physically located. I’ve had a few clients call after their campaign has launched live, usually angrily asking “why can’t I see my ads!?” I find this tool helpful to diagnose the problem and ascertain their IP location.

When creating locally targeted campaigns, I employ the following technique which seems to cover all bases. For the sake of argument, I will use Google AdWords as my advertising platform. My example client will be a painting service in Buffalo New York.

1. Create a campaign using non-geographically targeted keywords and phrases (painting service, house painter, interior painting etc). Next, set the geographic setting to Buffalo.

Buffalo Geo Target

2. Create a second campaign using geographically targeted keywords painting service Buffalo, house painter Rochester, interior painting Tonawanda) and set the geographic setting to the state of New York.

New York

These two campaigns will cover the holes in Google’s IP targeting ability and still rope in the geographic traffic you are looking for. The next step is to monitor these campaigns and optimize for the higher performing CTR and conversion rates. Be sure to also pay close attention to your analytics data to ensure you are hitting the right traffic for your client.

John over at PPC Hero wrote a good explanation as to why these two campaigns are necessary when geo-targeting. I second his comments in the last two paragraphs and have had similar conversations with Google reps on the phone and at conferences about the best way to create these campaigns and how Google’s system handles searches like “Buffalo painting service” for searchers outside of your IP targeted campaigns.

Microsoft Buying Yahoo…? Fine… But PLEASE Support Your Product!

Posted on February 1, 2008 
Filed Under MSN Ad Centre, PPC News, Yahoo Search Marketing | Leave a Comment

What a day it has been for us people in search engine marketing. If you partied way to much last night and were passed out for most of the day, you may have missed this - Microsoft Makes $45 Billion Offer for Yahoo!

I can’t say this was a suprise and to be honest, it is long overdue. Given that Yahoo! has been struggling latley, laying off jobs, stock tanking and all… well, they were ripe for the taking.

There is mixed results in the search community and the jurry is still out if this is good for us or not. Strictly from a PPC perspective, here is the latest blog chatter - PPC Book is sceptical, PPC Advice is sitting on the fence but seems optimistic, the rest of the PPC blogs out there haven’t posted an opinion yet.

My thoughts? Well, I am happy this has happened and expect we won’t see any PPC impact for a while. My hope is that Microsoft migrates their system INTO Yahoo’s Search Marketing platform. Though I have never been a huge fan of either, Yahoo’s platform is slightly better to work with than Microsoft’s. Will that happen? Probably not, as a friend of mine said - “Microsoft’s ego will get in the way of making the right decision.”

What was my biggest laugh of the day? Microsoft’s platform was down this afternoon! Timing behind this outage was…well… delicious.

Adcenter Crashes

Guess I should probably take that advertisement for MSN off my blog!

Handy Firefox Extensions for Internet Marketers

Posted on January 29, 2008 
Filed Under Firefox | 3 Comments

I’m a big fan of Firefox. At first it was because I am anti Microsoft (Bill is sending out the hired goons as I type) and wanted to “rebel against the man” but now Firefox offers so many great extensions that can really help the average PPC or SEO manager. I thought I would share a few of my favourites.

1. SEO for Firefox - Aaron Wall is a brain when it comes to SEO…and yes, he wrote the book on SEO, aptly titled “SEO Book.” He also released this extremely handy SEO tool for firefox which gives you a quick glimpse into all kinds of useful internet marketing data such as: domain age, back links, whois, delicious bookmarks and more. While this tool is more helpful for SEO related work, I happen to have it installed because I help out with some seo work with this toronto internet marketing company. Here is a screen capture using a firefox tool below of what the data looks like.

2. Global Firefox Extension - This tool is fantastic and was made by a company who really know their stuff. If you are running a PPC campaign in a different country or region within your country, you can use this tool to check the display results of your ads. Here are some other handy features.

There is a great set of screenshots on the Red Fly Marketing blog which will help explain how to use the tool.

3. Fireshot - This is a new tool to my browser which I am still playing with. I liked it so much it has made the list. I like having a built in screen capture program into my browser because it saves me time and this particular program has some great functionality. In addition to sporting all of the usual crop, draw, write etc… Fireshot also uploads the image to its server for quick linking. All to often a client will want to have a quick answer that isn’t easily explained in words… presto! take a screen grab and you’ve saved yourself a lot of hot air and a couple of aspirin. You will notice the “Matt Cuts” screen grab above was created and hosted using Fireshot.

4. Split Screen - I love this little extension! Normally I have my laptop screen and side monitor when I am sitting at my desk. I seem to have this nasty habit of having 10 different programs open at the same time, not to mention 50 different browser tabs in Firefox. This tool can separate any browser screen into multiple sections, allowing me to see 2, 3, 4 or more browser sessions at once. It is very handy when working with a PPC campaign, clients website and competitions site all at once.

5. Google Analytics Checker - I just downloaded this today but like the quick reference to see if Google Analytics is installed on a site. This extension sits in the footer of the browser, beside SEO for Firefox. If the graph is in colour - Bob’s your uncle - Google Analytics is installed. If it is in black and white, your out of luck.

Tearing a Page from MSN - Google Introduces Demographic Targeting.

Posted on January 24, 2008 
Filed Under Google AdWords, MSN Ad Centre, PPC News | 1 Comment

Google announced today the ability to demographically target AdWords campaigns, much the same way MSN… well… sort of. First, this feature is in beta mode and will only be available to marketers in the US and UK over the “next few weeks”

Demographic bidding will be available to contextually targeted and placement-targeted campaigns on the content network. How does it work? Here is the direct quote from the Inside AdWords blog:

Some publishers in our network, such as social networking sites, know the gender and age of their users because their users sign in with that information when they create a profile or fill out registration or subscription forms. Participating publishers anonymize this user reported demographic data and then send it to Google in aggregate form, allowing us to adjust which ads are shown to members of specific demographic groups. (To protect user privacy, AdWords receives this data only from publishers that have permission from users to share their data according to the site’s terms and conditions. Users are never identified personally, but only as anonymous aggregated data in the demographic reports. And to protect the privacy of minors, users under 18 can’t be targeted demographically.)

I don’t have a lot of experience working with MSN’s demographic targeting, to be honest a lot of my clients just don’t lend themselves to that granular level of detail. Plus… I’m sceptical of how it works.

Regardless with Google’s beta test you will be able to modify your bids for a particular age bracket AND ask that your ads not be shown to a certain demographic groups if they aren’t meeting your ROI goals. This begs the question if at some point a cost-per-action system will be included in this.

This system is also supposed to help you determine which demographic converts best for you by giving you access to run a Demographic Reports from the report centre showing you a breakdown of your performance metrics based on demographic segmentation.

As a Canadian advertiser… I would like to test this out… but Google has always and will always continue to ignore us Canucks in the north shivering away in our igloos and the beta test is only available to US and UK advertisers. If you sign up for a test (which can be done here), let me know how it goes.

Great PPC posts from 2007 - The SEMMY’S!

Posted on January 14, 2008 
Filed Under PPC News | Leave a Comment

I think this concept is great. Who knows… 2008 may see a semmy nomination on this blog?!?

The Semmy’s are awards given to the years best posts in Search Engine Marketing. The nominations for the PPC catagory do provide some excellent tips for managing PPC campaigns. Shoemoney’s post about creating an “arrow” within your PPC ad is particularly interesting, something I may try in the future!

It’s about time I post!

Posted on January 9, 2008 
Filed Under PPC News | Leave a Comment

I’ve wanted to create a blog for a while now… and yes I am aware that my humble little blog will be the “bajilionth” blog on the interent. So why create another? Simple, I wanted to create a great resource for pay-per-click marketing. My goal is to have this site become a destination resource for great ppc tips, tricks, news and more. I will endeavor to keep the content interesting, topical and useful to those who have a basic level on knowledge to those who are waist deep, managing 40 campaigns and probably know a heck of a lot more than I do!