Adwords Management - A Real Time Saver
January 5, 2009
If your business has been actively utilizing pay per click marketing as part of your online promotion strategy, you have probably ended some days feeling like a champion and some days feeling like a ppc loser. Pay per click is not an easy, laid-back game any longer and requires a significant amount of time, effort, and understanding to really benefit from.
There is really no reason to feel ashamed or frustrated if you are finding that you have less and less time in a given day to try to keep up with the nuances and intricacies of pay per click advertising. In this increasingly specialized field, an emerging service has developed centering around adwords campaign management.
There are a fair number of individuals and companies who are willing to manage your adwords campaigns, and other ppc networks for that matter, for you. While the costs to receive this service are not cheap (assuming you are working with an established and reputable expert), the savings in time, money and hassle can be well worth the expense.
As with any other aspect of your business, pay per click advertising management comes down to a simple question of whether your business is best served by your handling this task in-house or whether your time would be better spent on other areas.
These are the decisions that every business faces on a daily basis, ppc is no different.
I know that a number of my clients have experienced an ‘ah-ha’ moment after hiring me to manage their adwords campaigns. The headaches and hassles are no longer theirs to deal with, they need only interact and direct the management effort from the highest level.
The time savings, increased ROI and decreased stress are three benefits of utilizing professional pay per click management.
Consider whether your enterprise might benefit from adwords management today.
PPC Management - Google Reports
September 10, 2008
If you are an active, or potentially active, pay per click advertiser then you need to understand the importance of data. Within your ppc campaign management area, you will have access to an increasing amount of data relating specifically to your pay per click efforts. Now having all this data is all well and good, but what separates the men from the boys in the pay per click game is knowing what data is important and how to interpret it.
This is where a useful section of your Google Adwords account comes in very handy: Reports. Yep, sounds boring and is likely to be ignored by most Adwords’ users. However, learning how to produce usable and actionable data from the Reports section is a critical component to climbing to the top of the ppc mountain.
Reports can help you weed out sites and keywords that are sending you traffic that does not convert, allowing you to reduce costs. Reports can help you to split test your ad copy on a consistent basis in order to improve your CTR and quality scores. Reports can help you target the exact audience you are looking to target while avoiding markets and areas you have no use for.
That’s right, reports may seem quite boring, but in the hands of a knowledgeable ppc expert, they can make your ppc management result in dramatically improved results.
PPC Management - Keyword Targeting
August 26, 2008
When building out your pay per click campaigns, an important area to pay attention to is keyword matching options. While this functionality is called slightly different things depending on with pay per click service you are using, most major PPC engines offer a variety of keyword match types. Understanding these types and utilizing them for your benefit can mean the difference between a successful ppc effort and a failed one.
Why so dramatic? Well, I can’t help myself as getting the keyword matching options wrong can ‘clean out’ your advertising budget faster than you can say ‘why didn’t I pay attention to that?’
You see, just because you are bidding on a particular keyword phrase, for instance “blueberry” doesn’t mean that your pay per click ads won’t show for something related, but totally not offered by your site, like “blueberry colored automotive paint”.
Obviously, if your site is offering blueberry recipes, a visitor searching for auto paint is likely not going to become a customer of yours(though you have to wonder what kind of a person would paint their car that color anyway).
Regardless, the keyword matching options are there for your benefit and should be used exhaustively to give you the best return on your pay per click advertising spend.
PPC Management — Adwords Quality Score Updates
August 22, 2008
If you have been advertising via pay per click using, you have likely come face to face with Google Adwords’ dreaded/beloved quality score.
By assigning a quality score to each keyword in your campaigns, Google is able to show ‘the most relevant’ ads to their users, in order to ensure the ‘best user experience’. Whether that is actually the result or not remains to be seen, but what is certainly true is that every advertiser using Google Adwords absolutely must cater to their quality scores. To ignore them only results in poor performance and decreased return on your advertising dollar.
This is really nothing new, Google’s quality score has been around for a few years now.
However, just recently announced changes to how the quality scores will be calculated and affect your ad performance could have a dramatic impact on your account’s success/failure.
It appears that quality scores will now be calculated in a near real-time basis, rather than an initial and periodic calculation we’ve seen in the past.
This has many possible affects on your advertising strategy, including how closely you monitor your adwords account. I will go into more details in future posts, but this seems like another reason why hiring a ppc management company might be a wise move if you don’t have the time to monitor your efforts consistently.
PPC Management and the Google Content Network
August 15, 2008
I’ll be honest.
I have a secret that I’ve been keeping. I can’t help but let it out.
My favorite PPC network is without a doubt the Google Content Network.
What was once a confusing and untameable beast has become a reliable traffic behemoth. Smart ppc advertisers have realized this and are reaping the rewards.
Google has done a lot of work to help advertisers win the fight against click fraud and ‘made for adsense’ sites. These drags on ROI used to make the content network a joke and waste of time, but times have definitely changed.
Whether with improved placement performance reporting or the ability to prevent ads from showing on unwanted and ineffective websites, Google’s content network has become a great place for informed businesses to advertise.
I don’t want to mislead you, the content network is still a beast that can drain your ad budget faster than you can imagine. But, it is now a tameable beast for regular content network advertisers like myself and my clients.
In fact, Google is promising future improvements to the ‘refinability’ of the content network campaigns, a welcome sign for those companies reaping the rewards of proper Google content network campaign management.
Should You Bring PPC Management In House?
May 13, 2008
Are you looking into PPC management services? You can find an array of PPC management companies out there that will happily take on your business. There isn’t a shortage of good PPC companies out there. But should you allow a PPC firm to take on what you could possibly handle in house?
To answer that question, you need to take a long, hard look at your business. What do your resources look like right now? Do you have anyone there that has done PPC search engine management in your business? Do you have anyone there that is willing (and able) to learn everything that you need to know about paid search and Google Adwords management?
Read more
Why Should You Outsource Your PPC management?
May 12, 2008
google adwords campaign management
How much time do you want to spend with your PPC management? For some companies, it makes more sense to bring a PPC analyst in-house and keep all marketing efforts in one place. For other companies, it makes far more sense to hire a PPC management firm with all of the experience and resources that you will need.
Let’s be honest. Do you have the resources or time to learn all of the different, complicated processes that go into solid PPC management? There are a number of techniques, tips and tricks that you need to master to have a successful PPC campaign. Do you want to take the time to learn all of this or would you rather pay a firm that has the experience and knowledge needed already?
Read more
Smart Keyword Strategies
May 9, 2008
Increase your conversions. Save money. Isn’t this what all companies want out of their PPC search engine management team?
Keywords are an incredibly important part of your PPC efforts. A good PPC search engine management team can direct down a good path towards choosing keywords that are right for your business. Good keywords translate into higher sales and lead generation information at a lower cost.
Read more
Ad Text Suggestions
May 8, 2008
How are people finding your website with your current PPC management company? You are bidding on a number of keywords, but have you reviewed your ad text lately?
Do a test with your PPC management service. Type in some of the keywords that you are bidding on and see what your competitors have for ad text. After all, the ad text is what will capture your target market’s attention and bring them to your site. You need to make sure that your PPC search engine management company has great ad creation for the success of your business.
Read more
Pay Attention To Landing Pages
May 7, 2008
pay per click management company
Have you discussed your landing pages with your Adwords management team lately? If you want to find a way to increase your conversions, the key could be in the landing pages that your Adwords management team is directing your paid search listings to.
Where do your visitors enter your site? Do you have one landing page in your PPC campaign, no matter what keywords you are bidding on? If so, this could be a problem.
Read more
PPC Management and Conversion Analysis
May 6, 2008
How do you define success?
What do you want to accomplish with your PPC management campaign?
If you want to be successful with PPC campaign management, you need to know the answers to these questions. Only a fool would give hundreds of dollars to a PPC management company without clearly defined goals and objectives for the campaign.
Read more
Make PPC Management Services work for your Company
May 5, 2008
You want to see a lot of success with your PPC campaign, but did you know that you can customize your account to work for your company?
One of the PPC management services that are available with your account is the ability to day-part your ads. If you take advantage of this benefit, you can turn your PPC campaign on and off to have it work for you only when you need it to be there.
Running a PPC campaign can be like opening the doors of a floodgate of traffic. When you initiate your PPC management services, you choose the keywords and budget that fit your needs and then immediately turn this form of online marketing on. From that point on, you will see a noticeable increase in your traffic and visitors.
Read more
Top Questions To Ask A PPC Management Firm
May 2, 2008
Are you considering employing a PPC management firm for your growing business? Paid search or PPC (pay-per-click) marketing can be an effective way to get your business name and message out there, targeting the right customers and getting your business to show up on the first pages of the major search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, MSN and others.
In order to get there and stay there, however, you need a PPC management firm that will do what it promises and help you control and organize your PPC budget effectively. If you blow all of your budget in the first few hours of the day on general keywords that don’t convert for your business, all you are doing is paying the salaries of some happy people at Google, Yahoo!, MSN and others.
Read more
PPC Management: Target Market
May 1, 2008
Why does it matter if your PPC management firm knows your target market? If your company has done its research, you know that certain individuals are more likely to prefer your products or services than others. So if you know that information, should your PPC management company as well?
The answer, of course, is absolutely. Knowing your target market is important and when it comes to PPC management, recognizing the right target market for your business can save you money. Conversely, if you or your PPC management service does not know your target market, it can end up costing you plenty of money.
Read more
PPC Management and Campaign Organization
April 30, 2008
How familiar are you with PPC management strategies? If you have hired a PPC management firm, it can behoove your company to question and analyze the techniques they are using to yield results with your company.
One important facet of PPC management is campaign and ad group organization. Oftentimes, you’ll read a lot of information on bid management and budget strategies, but little about campaign and ad group organization. However, the way that your PPC management firm organizes your campaigns and ad groups can directly impact your budget and bidding techniques.
Read more
Answers to the Quality Score
April 29, 2008
The Quality Score in Google is a relatively new concept in PPC bidding, but it is something that a reputable Google Adwords management firm should be very familiar with. After all, the Quality Score offers an inside look into why some companies are charged more than others on the same keyword.
The Quality Score was created so that Google could promote relevant search results even on their paid searches. At the time, the idea was both controversial and brilliant. Once again, Google was putting the interests of their searchers at the front of their business model, but as you can imagine, it angered – and continues to anger – a number of paying customers.
Read more
Does Your PPC Management Service Watch the Budget?
April 28, 2008
Controlling your budget is one of the top reasons you employ a PPC management service instead of doing PPC on your own. You just don’t have the time to look into all the different aspects that go into a successful PPC campaign, so you have employed the resources of a PPC management service.
But are they watching your budget?
Read more
Strategy and Your PPC Management Firm
April 25, 2008
If you are about to sign on with a PPC management firm – or have recently signed on with one and want more information – you need to analyze the strategy that your firm will be taking with your PPC accounts.
How will your PPC management firm be spending your money? No matter what your budget might be or what your industry is, there are a wide variety of ways to strategize each PPC account. Different pay per click management services will promise different choices, but some will be more successful than others, depending on your business model and industry.
Read more
Keyword Research
April 24, 2008
Build the right foundation with your PPC campaign. A good PPC management firm knows the importance of good keywords. After all, this is the basis from which your entire PPC campaign will operate.
If you are a lead generation company, you can most likely afford to be more generous with your keywords. After all, you are just trying to bring people to your site to get their information. No money will be exchanged at this point and you can find people in the first or last parts of the buy cycle willing to hear more about what your company has to offer. For this reason, your PPC management company can use general keywords that will bring a high number of people to your site.
Read more
Smart Site Targeted Campaigns
April 23, 2008
Does your PPC campaign have its content network turned on? Are you seeing strong results from it? Find out ways to increase your content network return with your Google Adwords campaign management.
The content network is a part of PPC, although it is set to default to run in the Google Adwords system, so it is currently running if you have not purposely turned it off. The content ads are those sponsored links that display next to the article. The text ads that are deemed relevant to the articles are the ones that will be displayed.
Read more
International PPC Targeting
April 22, 2008
Does your company operate in a number of different countries? Are you interested in targeting international visitors? Look into international targeting with your PPC campaign management.
One of the best aspects to PPC campaign management is how targeted you can make your campaign. Through a variety of factors, you are more likely to find and attract your target base of future and existing customers through PPC efforts. With a PPC campaign management account set up with exact specifics, you can ensure that the right people see – and click – on your PPC ads for the maximum return on ad spend and conversion results.
Read more
PPC Management Bidding
April 21, 2008
Pay per click management bidding is one of the most important steps to a successful online marketing campaign. After all, it directly affects the amount of money you are spending second by second.
Unlike other traditional forms of advertising, online marketing and PPC management campaigns are immediate. Literally, you can have a campaign start and see your business at the top pages of search engine results pages like Google, Yahoo!, MSN and more in minutes.
For this reason, you can put your budget in place and with the wrong professional PPC bid management service, you can go through your entire daily budget in a matter of moments. If you are working with Google Adwords management, the system can spend your money so quickly it will even go over your allocated amount by 20% before it has a chance to turn itself off.
Read more
Ways to Stretch your PPC Budget
April 19, 2008
The most limiting factor to your online marketing and PPC efforts will always be your budget. Your keywords, ad group organization, ad text and landing pages all make a difference, but at the end of the day, it is your budget that starts or stops your campaign.
How can you stretch your budget as much as possible to get the most clicks for the least amount of cash? Turn to professional PPC bid management service strategies. There are a number of steps that you can take with a professional PPC bid management service opportunity to make every cent go as far as possible with your campaign.
Read more
Google Adwords Management Meets Negative Keywords
April 18, 2008
There are a number of different PPC management strategies that can be employed. Depending on your industry, you can find a few different ways to maintain your Google Adwords management campaign.
If you talk with a Google PPC specialist, they will tell you that one of the most effective ways to run your PPC campaign is through the use of negative keywords. Although it’s not one of the flashier parts of your campaign, negative keywords hold a huge amount of opportunity for Google Adwords management campaigns.
How do negative keywords work in your PPC account? In essence, negative keywords are the “exception” to your bidding rules. For example, if you sell shoes, but you don’t carry any Pumas, you can use “puma” as a negative keyword. That way, when someone types in “puma shoes,” your ad does not appear and does not risk being clicked on. If someone types in “shoes,” however, and you have bought this keyword, your ad will still show.
Read more
Does Your PPC Management Firm use the Content Network?
April 17, 2008
Do you know what the content network is? If you don’t, it’s time you found out so you can get your PPC management firm’s thoughts on the subject.
Read an article on CNN.com or any other news site. Do you see the sponsored links on the page that are from Google? These are examples of content network ads and are a part of the efforts of PPC management.
So how does the content network affect your PPC management? Depending on your industry, the content network may or may not be a good addition to your PPC management efforts.
The content network is a default setting when you work with Google Adwords management. The real question is, however, do you need it?
Read more