Content targeting and placements can either be a highly profitable aspect of an account – or a great way to waste money. A great trick I learned from Shelley Ellis (an expert in content network targeting) by way of Brad Geddes at BGTheory (great training workshops by the way – I attended one in Toronto and picked up some great tips) is how to target Gmail and more importantly how to get into the “Funbox” at the top of gmail messages.
I used to work for a great charity – well, I used to work for two actually (The Terry Fox Foundation and Canadian Food for the Hungry). My job was in fund-raising and I know how difficult it was to raise money in a tough economy. Unfortunately, the first thing to be slashed from an individual or corporate budget is giving. That is why I am happy to see Google is donating $20 million this Christmas Season. Hat tip to you Google.
Oh – and best of the holidays to you my faithful reader (all 3 of you 
)
I pledge to do a lot more blogging in the new year and look for a new blog design too.
What I love about PPC marketing is there are so many things you can test to increase (or decrease) the overall impact on sales, leads or goals for a client. Today, Google and it’s Chief Economist, Hal Varian released some very interesting data regarding how conversion rates are affected by the position of an ad. The finding – acutally quite supprizing is that the conversion rate itself doesn’t really change across position 1 – 10.
Before you run off and set your position preference to position 10 and think – “Yes, I’ve found the secret to cheap sales” – think again.
Lets start at the basics – A “conversion rate” is different that an actual conversion, the rate is merley a measure of the conversions divided by the number of clicks. It is widley accepted that a higher position on the page garners more clicks (and it usually means a higher CTR also) – thus, with more clicks will come more conversions – just at the same rate as an ad in a lower position (according to this study).
To throw a monkey wrench into this – the report does highlight this fact:
Since Google ranks ads by bid times ad quality, ads in higher positions tend to have higher quality and higher quality ads tend to have higher conversion rates. Thus you may see a correlation between auction position and conversion rates just due to this ad quality effect. However, the real question is how the conversion rate for the same ad would change if it were displayed in a different position.
When Google applied a statistical model to account for the effects that their ad service system applies for situations illustrated in the above quote, they found that for the 11 ads shown on the first page, the conversion rates varied by less than 5% across the position ranges. Additionally, ads that placed above the organic search results had a conversion rate that ranged ±2% of right-hand side positions.
What does this mean for the every day advertiser like yourself? First, remember that CTR is a part of the Quality Score calculation and where your ads are placed and what you pay per click. Thus, an ad positioned low in the first page will likley have a low CTR unless the ad text has some amazing offer/call to action etc.
Secondly, remember that if your goal a positive ROI then the way you manage your campaign will include the cost of the clicks – thus, a lower position might be beneficial for you – now that you know that conversion rates don’t vary much by ad position.
Before I begin… let me say, it has been a while! Sorry for letting this blog go stale. I had the best of intentions but sometimes, work (pesky clients!) gets in the way. Alas, I found a rainy Sunday afternoon in between chores to post.
I am not a huge fan of the content network for many reason, the first being I have seen some poor results from in in past and don’t want to waste my clients money. That being said, there are some clients who do great and benefit greatly from the content network. It really depends on a number of factors (well, in truth more than “a number” – it depends on A LOT of factors) and more often than not, B2C clients fair better than B2B.
Separate Search and Content Network
When I set up new accounts or campaigns, I always separate the search network ads form my content network ads. This allows me to manage the budgets more effectively and see how keywords perform independently across these two mediums (a note for Google – it would be great if advertisers could separate Google Search from Google’s Search Partners). Separating the two also keeps the data sets “clean” when viewing them. I like seeing my search CTR’s rather than having the content network mixed in.
Writing Ads
Content network visitors are “passive” and not actively searching on with keywords looking for your product or services. As such, writing ads for the search network and content network should be taken with a different approach. Don’t bother using dynamic keyword insertion tricks or techniques in your content network ads, they won’t be effective. For that matter, “stuffing” your ads with keywords won’t make a difference either, as there is no “bold blue” opportunity to be had with these ads. Be more general in your approach, focus on driving traffic interested in engaging with your brand and finding out what your business or service is about. I typically use more questions in my title like “Need Accounting Services?” or “Roof Leaking?” which tends to perform better than simple statement titles.
Selecting Keywords
You don’t need to be as “long tail” focused with your keyword selections (or really bother much with keyword match types at your initial setup). I find that Google tends to cast a very wide net when it comes to placing your ads. More often than not you will see MySpace amongst the top impression leaders. Use your keywords to “guide” what types of sites your ads will appear on, as you start to generate data, you can begin to weed out poorly performing sites and build a list of sites that can be used to either separate into a site placement campaign or increase bids on.
Managing with Data (and the new Adwords Interface).
With Google’s new Adwords interface, managing the content network and specific sites is much easier than before. Rather than writing out instructions and tips on using the new interface to your advantage – Google has produced a nice video explaining how the content network can be managed:
What happens if you don’t have a lawn to post a lawn sign? Simple, download a digital one!
Make your voice heard and download one of your own here: Digital Lawn Signs from Spark Internet Marketing.
I love seeing a good CTR, a nice high CTR that I know I can live off of and decrease bids around. Well… I can finally retire a happy man. I am happy to announce a CTR that is … well… just plain out of this world.
Curious?
Check this screen shot out!
Yup – you read that right… 92,233,720,369,547,776.00% CTR. How do you get that you ask? Simple… one click and zero impressions. Kinda makes pii look like a chump doesn’t it?
*I really don’t have 50 bucks… I have to pay my taxes first!
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.
Other than that… Enjoy the rest of the month, and best of
luck!
Levi
Wordz
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
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.
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!
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 )
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
© 2010 PPC Whiz. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Wordpress. Designed by 
