Week 9 was good.  I spent this week really diving into marketing Beacon.  The bulk of what I did this week involved making sure things were up to date or set up correctly.  I ensured that the local listings for Beacon were correct in directories like Google Places, Yahoo! Local, and Bing Local.  Once I was done with that, I worked on setting on some goal funnels in GA to track conversions for Beacon’s contact form.  I set up the funnel to track if the contact form was filled out from a specific page.  The other updating I did was related to the special offer page for the current promotion Beacon will be running.  This didn’t involve creating anything on the page, but rather making sure links worked correctly on the page and that links from other pages pointed to the correct special offer page.

Along with that work, I spent a large amount of time working on a PPC campaign for the special offer.  This was really fun.  I got to manipulate the keywords for ad groups within the campaign to try to ensure that the ads were associated with the right keywords to improve the quality score of the keywords.  The better the quality score, the more likely the ad will appear in related searches.  There were close to 20 ad groups that I focused on for this campaign.  After looking over the previous statistics, I tweaked the copy of the ads for each ad group to hopefully be more effective.  I also wrote one or two new ads for each ad group.  If you don’t know already, the ads have a limited number of characters for each line.  There are four lines in each ad.  The headline, line 1, line 2, and the display URL.  The headline and the limits you to 25 characters and the other three lines limit you to 35 characters each.  Here is an example to help visualize what I had to work with.

This equals 25 characters

This is the length of 35 characters

Here is a new set of 35 characters.

www.displayurl.com/35morecharacters

It seems like it would be easy to get your point across in that amount of space since you have 70 characters for the “meat” of the “sandwich”, but considering my second line was a predetermined mentioning of the special offer, I really only had 35 characters to deliver the message.  I was able to make the headline whatever I wanted to help get the message out there.  Also, the display URL can more or less be whatever you want.  It doesn’t have to be a valid URL.  It is meant to help convince people to click on the ad.  The ad is pointing to a real URL of your choosing in the background.

In addition to writing and editing ads, I was given the freedom to determine the best geographical area to target with the ads, I was able to give input on the daily budget of the campaign, and I got to learn about and set up some A/B testing within the campaign.  A/B testing is where you run two almost identical ads or websites or etc. and see which outperforms the other.  Once you get enough data you stop the less effective one and move on to testing the winner versus another small change.  Hopefully I’ll be able to see some results before the end of my internship.  If not I’ll have to check back in to find out how it’s going.

I remember back in the day, stumbling upon a neat little tool called “Adwords Editor“.  And it was like the sky broke open, angels sang, and the gods smiled down on me. Once I used it, all I could say was: WHAT. A. FIND. Unfortunately I made this find after having a co-worker do a tremendous and tedious account overhaul manually is Adwords, but let’s not talk about that.

Anyway… we all know how Adwords Editor saves us time creating, managing, and editing PPC accounts. But there are even more features once you get into the nitty-gritty of Editor that are worth being aware of. And today I’d like to talk about the most simple of these: copy & paste.

The Copy and Paste in Adwords Editor

Yup. Good ol’ copy and paste. So, we all know you can export all or parts of an account using the “Export” feature under “File”. But what if you want to manipulate something super specific, like ad copy and keyword destination URLs? Exporting this is difficult and even impossible in some circumstances. Well,  copy and paste to the rescue!

How to Use Copy and Paste in Adwords Editor

Simply Control + C or Shift + C (depending on whether you’re selecting choice data or all data in a group) and Control + V into Excel. All data, including headings, will be pasted. Now do your thing with edits. Save as CSV, making sure your headings match, and import into Editor. Review and approve edits. Done! Now wasn’t that easy?

This method has served me particularly well in making large, sweeping changes to ad copy. Give it a try and check back again for more tips on our beloved Adwords Editor!

~Andrea

Google Remarketing is such a great concept because it lets you serve ads to visitors that came to your site but didn’t convert right in the Adwords Interface.

How It Works:

1. Figure out what visitor segments you want to target and then create lists to fit them into with specific cookie time lengths.  Create specific display and text ads for each of your lists, and activate it.
2. When a customer comes and visits your website a cookie is set on their computer if they meet certain triggers you set within your list.  An example trigger would be that they came to your website, but failed to purchase one of your products.
3. Because of the cookie you set, these customers are now recognized across the Google Display Network (GDN) once they left your site, so anytime time they visit another website within the GDN your ads will ‘follow’ them around.

Different List Strategies:

1. Basic List Strategy: Just create one list and simply tag all visitors that land on your homepage.  This will help you to easily reach all of your website visitors.
2. More Advanced List Strategy: Create lists throughout each section of your website to market certain products to certain visitors.  If they were browsing your website for couches, show they couches, and if they were browsing for coffee tables, show them coffee tables.
3. Shopping Cart List Strategy: Create a list for visitors that engaged in your cart feature but never completed the transaction.  You would do this by putting a requirement in your list that the visitor must touch one of the cart pages, but never landed on the ‘thank you confirmation page.’  I would recommend serving these list members a more aggressive offer to help tip the scales in your favor.

Tips to Increase your Conversion Rates with Remarketing:

1. Use different creative pieces for each of your lists and time segments to keep customers aware of your graphics without them blending in.
2. If you are displaying an image to visitors that went to the shoes section of your website shoe images, and show visitors that went to the purse section of your website purses if you created separate lists for them.
3. Remember to hint about the added value of your products if they abandoned your cart.  This is your change to help give them a reason to say OK in their minds and return to your website to make that purchase!

Good luck from the Beacon Team!

Is that the search query you were looking for?

Google Instant allows you to get to the right content faster because you don’t have to finish typing  in your full search term.  You get instant feedback during your search. Would that cause some search visitors to hit enter and conclude a query before there is a more exact match to the keyword they are looking for?

In our analytics, we noticed that during the course of a query some hits were being picked up as only partial keyword searches. Apparently, some search visitors are believing they have concluded a search query when they have actually not.

For example, let’s say I want to search for Christmas toys.

I start my query and get to the point below where I have typed in “christmas to” and not finished typing completely to “christmas toys”.

On the screenshot above, you notice that there are not any sponsored results.

But if I complete typing, this is what happens…

Now above, sponsored ads fill up the top and right sections of the screen.

What this means is that a window of opportunity exists (albeit perhaps a small one!)  during the course of a search query for top ad positioning by bidding on a exact match for [christmas to] . Suppose that after bidding on the close match, the real possibility exists for searchers catching sight of my ad, stopping the query before completion,  and clicking on the ad. The brief moment of top ad position is  likely far cheaper than bidding on “christmas toys” and might be worth the effort for the traffic you receive.

People say that giving is better than receiving, but that is certainly not the case with AdWords.

I wonder how modifed broad matches variants behave?

1)      Consistency with the theme is so important. Make sure that the images, offers, and text content you include on your graphic are highly visible on the destination landing page so that visitors don’t feel lost when they arrive on your site.

2)      Don’t negate the necessity for testing. Things can always improve.  Why not create future ads by learning what did and did not work for the ads in the past.  HINT: Here is where Google Website Optimizer comes in handy! Always think about your options in the following areas:

• The Call to Action:
  • wording,
  • color,
  • shape,
  • size,
  • prominence

• The Point of Action Assurances:
  • Should you include a verification logo for secured online purchases?
  • Should you include a privacy policy?

• The Font You Use:
  • Which font should I choose?
  • Can my demographic read it easily?
  • If this is a mobile site, can they read the text of the ad?
  • Should I make it bold or italic?

Remember, what looks good on paper doesn’t always look so good online.

• The Headline Message
  • Should you use punctuation?
  • Should you include an explanation of benefits/features?
  • Does it need to evoke emotion?
  • Should you ask a question?

• The Graphic
  • What size/shape should it be?
  • Would the ad be more effective if there is an image of a person present for a relatable personability factor?

Remember, if you are going to have an image of a person, make sure that their eyes are facing forward to increase the false connection.

3)      Always track your destination URL. If you are new to this, use this link to help you build it.

If done right, an image ad is a great way to target your audience.  It is more visually attractive than a text ad, and is usually larger and easier to see and gain an impression.  You can also draw a visitor in by telling a story through basic animation.

For some tips, let’s take a look at some of Google’s  paid ads and the ppc techniques Google is using. I took screenshots of a total of six ads.  The first one is for Google Docs.

Some points to take away from each ad:

-> Ad states a benefit to the customer “..from Any Computer.”

-> Call to action “Try now!”

-> Ad states a benefit to the customer “Reach Millions..”

-> Low price of $5 is emphasized.

-> First letter of every word is capitalized.

-> Exclamation mark used in last line.

-> Ad states a benefit to the customer “Boost Your Business”

-> Call to action “Use Right Now”.

->First letter of every word is capitalized.

-> First letter of every word capitalized.

-> Low cost and quickness is emphasized.

-> Ad states a benefit “Get Qualified Visitors..”

-> Call to action “Place ..Today!”

->Ad states a benefit of  ”Gain Customers in Minutes”

-> Call to action ” Sign Up”

So, in summary the main tips we can garner from Google are:
1) State a benefit to the customer.
2) Include a call to action.
3) Emphasize low cost, ease of use, and speed.
4) Start every word in your ad text with a capital letter.
5) Repeat one word from the headline into the text.
6) Try some ads using an exclamation point.

You’re setting up your Google AdWords campaign and adding your keywords.  At some point you may ask yourself, “Does the singular form or plural form of the keyword matter?”.

So you go to the Google AdWords traffic estimator and check to see which form gets the most traffic.

Let’s check out the keywords “attorney” and  ”attorneys”.

In the table above, “attorney” gets more click traffic (1,920 – 2,404) and it has a cheaper cpc ($5.92 – $8.51).  ”Attorney”  looks like the better choice between the two to add to your ad campaign.

But wait…

Doesn’t a higher cpc (cost per click) mean that the keyword “attorneys” commands a higher bid price which is a reflection of higher demand?

“Attorneys” has a higher cpc because advertisers know that the plural is a lot more likely to be typed in by people who are looking to hire an attorney.  Therefore , the bids are driven up because of the higher  demand and you pay a higher cpc to use the plural form.

But why???

The reason is that the singular form is generic and it is likely  that someone who types in “attorney” wants to know something in general about what an attorney is and what the job entails .  A singular search doesn’t always have a similar intent that a search for “attorneys” does.

Typing a search for “attorneys” is more likely to be a search looking to hire an attorney.

Now,  setting your keyword to broad match will cover both singular and plural matches. You’ve covered the potential click traffic, but you have to wonder,  how many of those keyword searches using the singular form in a broad match are costing you money?

I read this article in Finance Tech News about phishing related to Google Adwords and thought it was worth sharing and a good reminder of how important it is to be protective of your logins and passwords for on-line transactions.

New phishing scam: Google Adwords

June 30, 2008 by Valerie Helmbreck

If your organization buys Google Adwords, you’ll want to be on the lookout for a sinister phishing scam that’s making the rounds.

Online criminals are targeting Google Adwords users, trying to steal Internet traffic and gain access to business and individual banking details.

According to the latest research from Bigmouthmedia, the volume of ‘phishing’ emails designed to trick customers into handing over Adwords account login details has increased rapidly in the last six months. Analysis of traffic stats for April reveals a rise of 240% on the monthly average for 2007.

Although Web users are familiar with fraudulent emails seeking usernames and passwords for online banking facilities, Google Phishing’s something of a new twist in the phishing game. Victims are targeted not only for the details that would leave them open to identity theft, but they get double socked: Their Adwords traffic gets hijacked to the thief’s site.

Experts observe that the sudden spike is evidence of Google’s rising significance, with organized online crime now targeting the search giant in much the same manner as it would attack a major bank or software company.

Remember, whenever you get a link to an e-mail asking you to update credit card or bank information, you should NOT click it, no matter how real it looks or whose email address the notice appears to come from.

If you worry that the alert might be real, call the company that supposedly sent the email and ask.

“Make it so”

Captain Jean-Luc Picard says YOU need to do three things in three chintzy lines very quickly with your Google AdWords copy.

• Stand out & get attention  (Headline- Line 1)
• Create a desire  (Line 2)
• Incite an action  (Line 3)

-

“Make it so, Number One”!

(1)  The headline is the most important line.

There are several techniques to try.

• Dynamic  Keyword Insertion
• One word headline
• Two word headline
• Three word headline
• Have the headline ask a question
• Begin your headline with the word “How to” (see example below)

-

“Make it so, Number Two”!

(2)  On the second line after the headline, make it personal.

• Ask yourself the question,  just how can the customer benefit?

In the Google ad below, the line reads “Customers Search and Find You.”

Thats how the customer will  benefit.

-

“Make it so, Number Three”!

(3) On the third and last line, get immediate action.

People don’t need time to think it over. You will lose sales that way.

Here are some techniques to try:

• If the price is going up, say so.
• If the supply is limited, say so.
• Set a time limit.
• Use call to actions such as “Act Now”,  ”Shop Today”,  or “Don’t Delay”
• State another great benefit the visitor will get by buying your product (“Save 15%”).

See the example below:

The examples used above are actual Google sponsored ads. There is a very high probability that these Google Ads have been tested and are being displayed for a very good reason. The reason is because the chintzy ad format works.  Google’s 5.7 billion in revenue doesn’t lie.

And why listen to Picard? According to wikipedia:

Picard is deemed the ultimate delegator of authority, knowing “how to gather and use data better than any other Star Trek captain.”

Have you seen the product images that show up next to the Google sponsored text ads on the right side of the Google search results?

Try a Google search for ”ski clothes” or “infusion pumps”.

See those images on the right hand side of the search results below?

Like a needle to the arm, these product ads deliver precisely like syringe pumps.

That’s the new Product Extension feature in Adwords!

Pretty neat! If you want to stand out among the competition, then product extensions are the way to go.

To setup, you’ll need a Merchant Center Account.

Under the Merchant Center Settings dropdown menu, enter your AdWords Customer ID.

Once you’ve entered your Adwords Customer ID into the Merchant Center, go to your related AdWords campaign and look under the Settings Tab.

Underneath Networks, devices and extensions,  locate Ad extensions.

Click on Edit and check the box for Connect to my Google Merchant Center Account and Save.

That’s it!