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This Page is Sponsored by Search Engine Marketing Blog: http://www.darin.cc I created the Search Engine Marketing Blog to help educate the public on Search Engine Marketing techniques. I have seen so many bad Internet Marketing Sites out there and with my current involvement in Search Engine Marketing I feel, if I share my knowledge with the world, I can make a difference in helping others Market their websites effectively! Click Here to see some of my Random Posts! Here are some of my More Popular Posts!
Pay Per Click Management - Part 1 Ok I have decided to write a series on Pay Per Click Management. I have managed many Pay Per Click accounts in my day … and I can’t tell you how important it is to follow some Very Basic however Very Important steps to running a successful account! In Part 1 of this series I will show you the VERY 1st Step and Most Important Step to creating a Pay per Click Account. Just like everyday life … you must be organized. The files on your computer are organized … your documents are in your “My Documents Folder”, your Pictures are in your “Pictures” file, even those alternative files you don’t want anyone knowing about are in a “FILE” somewhere on your computer. Organization is the 1st Key to running a Successful PPC Account. Just like your Paper Files in a filing cabinet … you have the Light Bill in the Light Bill folder, the Water Bill in the Water Bill folder and the Telephone Bill in the Telephone Bill folder. I can’t stress why this is so important … and I will let you know why this is an important factor later on in this post! Ok so lets get started … I will have to use an example of a site to get the point accross so think about your site when reading this and constructing your PPC Account! So lets say I own a “Car Parts” related eCommerce website. I sell parts such as wheels, exhaust, engine components and interior components. If you notice Google, Yahoo and MSN all now follow the same account structure, because they understand it is important to be organized to run a successfull Pay Per Click Account! So you have your Account, then Campaigns in that Account and Ad Groups in your Campaigns, so you have 3 levels to a PPC Account. You have 1 Account that can have Several Campaigns and in Each Campaign you can have Several Ad Groups. Ok, so I have my Account Set up and now I want to create Campaigns … what do I do from here, what do I name them? Great question, if your in eCommerce you probably have 2 levels at this point, you have 1st Level Categories (ie. wheels, exhaust, etc) Generic Categories to your site … you should create Generic Campaigns so For example I would create: Wheels, Exhaust, Engine Components My 2nd Level are Brands, so I could create Campaigns with my Top Brands (ie. Borla, Tenzo-R, AEM) These campaigns will come in handy because they are your top sellers and as the market moves you want to be able to find your keywords to adjust accordingly so For example I would create: Borla, Tenzo-R, AEM So now that you have some Campaigns set up now you need to set up Ad Groups in those Campaigns so same concept here … think and plan out the best names for your Ad Groups so for my Generic “Wheels” Campaign i’m going to create the following Ad Groups: Truck Wheels, Car Wheels For my Brands Category Under “AEM” i’m going to create the following Ad Groups: AEM Air Intake Systems, AEM DRYFLOW Air Filters, AEM High Performance Electronics, AEM Digital Gauges OK! So our PPC Account should look like this so far! Account: “MyCarPartsStore.Com” This type of organization in your PPC Account will allow you to quickly make changes and find keywords in your Account on the Fly. I have seen many accounts using the generic Naming Convention and to find the keyword 17 inch truck wheels could possibly take valuable time away from you being able to do something productive for your business … with the Structure above the generic keyword would be in the Wheels Campaign, Truck Wheels Ad Group! Once you have this hierarchy in place it will make Managing your Campaign a breeze! In Part 2 of this series we will discuss Keyword Generation so stay tuned!
Pay Per Click Management - Part 2 In Part 1 of this Pay Per Click Management Series I discussed Organizing your PPC account to navigate it easy and quickly … if you missed it … here is a link to the Post Pay Per Click Management - Part 1 In this post I will discuss Keyword research. This is also a vital step in creating a successfull PPC campaign. You will actually never stop adding keywords however this will help you get up and running with your Pay Per Click Campaign. With PPC you can choose the keywords you want to be listed under or be found when a user does a search. So just like Organizing your account there are two different types of Keyword Research. If your offering information on your site or if your a Retail outfit. Ok so i’ll start with a retail outfit since most sites using PPC are Selling items on the web! So I own this “Car Parts” related eCommerce website. I sell parts such as wheels, exhaust, engine components and interior components. So I have Generic Campaigns set up: Truck Wheels, Car Wheels, Fenders, Brakes Now I want to create Generic Keywords for my “Brakes” Ad Group: This should be all the Generic keywords pertaining to “Brakes” in General. Now lets move on to a Specific Campaign So I have Specific Campaigns set up as Brands: Borla, Tenzo-R, AEM Now I want to create Specific Keywords for my “AEM” Ad Group: —————— Now if you look at the 2 lists I have created above you will notice that the Generic Keywords pertaining to Brakes are mostly 2 word phrases and the Specific keywords pertaining to AEM are mostly 3 word phrases. This excercise should also show you the long tail of search. As you get deeper in your keyword building you will notice that Generic Keywords most of the time will never be long phrases where as specific keywords are actually phrases most of the time. This is because as you get more specific with your Keyword building your describing (in a phrase) what it is you have to offer the customer. With Search Engines today Generic Terms Get alot of traffic such as the keyword “Brakes” however the keyword “aem cam gears” won’t get as much traffic because it is a phrase and not everyone is looking for “aem cam gears”! Now … you might say to yourself … why would I want to be listed on a keyword that doesn’t get as much traffic as the keyword “brakes” … good question … well would you want to pay for 10,000 clicks for the Keyword “brakes” and get all that traffic and you might not have exactly what the user is looking for … or would you rather pay for 1,000 clicks for users looking for “aem cam gears” ? By being listed under the keyword “aem cam gears” you have just qualified the user to a certain point … you know they own a certain car because they are looking for that particular part … and you know they are looking for an AEM Part that you carry! The More Specific you can get … the better for you in the PPC world. ——————– You will also want to research what your competition is doing. Do searches as if you were a customer. See where your competition is placing bids for keywords. Use Google, Yahoo and MSN to conduct your research! See if there are any keywords they are missing and add them to your campaign. Even if it results in Minimal Traffic you may pick up some sales you would have never had! ——————– Now that you have the concept of building keywords … where can you go to get help building your list …. ok here are a few sites that have keyword generation tools to help you build your keyword lists: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/ http://dictionary.reference.com/ http://thesaurus.reference.com/ Some of these are free tools some are paid tools … it all depends on the level you wish to build your keyword lists! ——————— Ok to sum up what we have done here is a 6 Step list … for reading purposes: 1. We Identified your target Audience 2. Brainstormed 3. Reviewed your inventory 4. Research Your Competition 5. Create Generic and Specific keyword Lists 6. Use Keyword Tools to build upon your current lists! Hopefully this Post will help alot of people understand more on Keyword Generation and why it is such an important part of Pay Per Click Management! Honestly there is alot more to Keyword Generation and I will elaborate more in the next post, however this should get you off to a good start!
Pay Per Click Management - Part 3 Wow … so we have made it this far in the PPC Management Series … If you missed Part 2 you can find the post here! We have discussed Setting up your PPC account … We have discussed doing your keyword research … now it’s time to talk about writing your advertisement … that shouldn’t look like an advertisement! Yes you heard correct … how to write an ad that doesn’t look or read like an ad … is it possible? The Number 1 Mistake marketers make is they write horrible ads … Did you know for example that writing a relevant ad can cost you less per click even in some of the busiest markets on Google, Yahoo and MSN! Why do you think they have implemented the new Secret “You Don’t Know what your bidding, until you get a click” system! They prefer you write Ad’s that don’t look like Ad’s … Here is a good example of what NOT to do! ———————————— That is a normal ad … everything said is trying to get the user to come to the site and buy now, or buy, buy, buy! This is what Google, Yahoo and MSN DON’T want all over their engines. Here is an example of what YOU SHOULD do! ———————————— This ad is exactly what Google, Yahoo and MSN want … it has a call to action “Limited time only Sale!” however it’s not saying Buy NOW, Buy NOW … so it’s easy on the eyes and it doesn’t really READ like a straight forward advertisement! They believe this will attract the user to click and possibly purchase. “Honestly” the secret is … (People have caught onto the PPC Market … even the General Public … and they know the Top and Right hand listings are Advertisements so they are hip to the game … some of them try to stay as far away from those listings as possible … so If you can write your Advertisement as if it were an Organic Listing … it could very well do better than the ads that read Buy Now, Buy Now … because the user doesn’t feel uncomfortable with your Listing) Don’t take my word for it … go ahead … do some A/B Testing and see which ad Google chooses as your Default Ad and see which ad gets a better click through and conversion! If you take this approach to writing your advertisements for PPC you will notice your CPC will drop and you may actually have better positioning without even changing your bid prices! Try to create “Content” related ads and you will be on the right road! Part 4 will be on expanding your keywords and using Advanced Match to your Advantage!
Pay Per Click Management - Part 4 Sorry I have to put this up for New Readers: If you Missed any parts of this series … it would be best to start reading from Part 1 to catch yourself up to speed! This is a lot of information and you could get lost with some of the things I say if you have not followed along so far! Here are links to the Previous Posts: Pay Per Click Management - Part 1 Ok … and now the Good Stuff Expanding your Keywords list and using Advanced Match to your Advantage. Once you have set up your pay per click accounts, created your ads, picked your keywords and collected some data now it’s time to captalize on the data you have collected. What are your most popular keywords? You can find all this information in the reporting at each search engine. Ok I have all this info but what do I do with it? Here comes the fun stuff! Ok so lets go back to my example of a “Car Parts Store” In our Wheels Campaign the AEM AdGroup is doing very well … lets see what keywords are making us “Money!”
AEM DRYFLOW Air Filters AEM High Performance Electronics AEM Digital Gauges We find out that (AEM Air Intake Systems) is doing very well! Great … Now how can we make it even better! Here is how Google and the others work You have 4 Levels of Matching Options:
[AEM Air Intake Systems] = exact match “AEM Air Intake Systems” = phrase match -AEM Air Intake Systems = negative match Notice the extra characters at the beginning and end of those keywords! You may have seen these options when you try to edit your Keywords or even when setting up keywords but never understood what this meant! Well here is the low down and since it seems I have alot of beginners reading my blog I will put it in Easy to Read and Understand Terms: When you advertise in “Broad Match” a user (searcher) can type your keyword or phrase in any order or tag on a keyword to a phrase, you don’t have in your account and your listing will still come up … so example … I go to google and type in (honda aem air intake systems) I would show up because I have the phrase (AEM Air Intake Systems) in broad match … at the same time I will be paying top dollar for that click because of the broad match! So lets say I bid $1 for the broad match of (AEM Air Intake Systems) and my average CPC is $0.75 Now if I add [AEM Air Intake Systems] as an exact match and I bid the same $1 and some on actually searched for (AEM Air Intake Systems) I could potentially show higher in the results because it is an (Exact Match) of my keyword and Pay less than the average $0.75 I was seeing in the Broad Match, Just Because I have it as an (Exact Match) so it’s no variation of the keyword and it’s exactly what I have in my account! So right now you should be saying to yourself … well why wouldn’t I put all my keywords as Exact Match? … Right? Here’s the answer … In Broad Match Mode … you pick up variations of your keywords and phrases … so people may be searching for your products but plug in a word or something extra you didn’t think of putting in your account as a keyword … lets face it … you can’t think of every single term someone may type in to find your product or service … however with the data you have gathered so far you CAN tell what is currently being searched and what is popular and what is not … so expand on your popular terms and create some Exact Match, and Phrase Match terms and TEST them out … I use the word TEST because you can’t just change everything in your account … or fire and forget! Search Engine Marketing is an evolving project … you can’t do it all in one day … Just like my mom used to say “Rome Wasn’t Built in one Day!” Utilize Exact and Phrase Match to your advantage to save some Click Cost on those High Traffic, Generic or Exact Matches where you need or want to be found! ——————————- Now … here is a tricky one … Negative Match … I bet now your thinking … why would I want to exclude myself from certain keywords … I’ll NEVER use Negative Match … well guess again … I have a Perfect Example of one and when you read it … the light bulb will instantly click on! Lets say you own a Baby Store online … and you sell Baby Cribs … so you have the keyword (cribs) in a (Broad Match) … just to let you know the word (cribs) is a HIGHLY Searched Term on Google … however any time someone searches for the Famous MTV show (MTV Cribs) your baby store ad will show up, and if your actually paying the estimated $2.00 per click to be in the #1 position … and those people searching clicks on your ads, you could run out a budget quicker than you can drink your morning coffee! So you would want to put the negative keyword (-mtv) in your campaign to STOP your add from showing up with the keywords MTV and cribs in the same search query! Hopefully that made sense … if it didn’t please read this section of the post again! I can’t stress how important this actually is! ——————————- Hopefully I have opened your eyes to the Advantages of Adding Exact Match, Phrase Match and Negative Match keywords to your account. These techniques are needed to optimize your Pay Per Click accounts and get you the Best Bang for Your Buck! I do this for a living so take it from me … it’s not an easy task however it reaps benefits beyond your imagination! I’m already writing Part 5 of this Series … and it’s actually going to have pictures to help describe what i am saying … I have learned from my Review Promotion that a lot of people like pictures … go figure … So the next part in this series is “What does Quality Score do for me?” Stay tuned … If you Missed any of this series … it would be best to start reading from Part 1 to catch yourself up to speed! This is alot of information and you could get lost with some of the things I say if you have not followed along so far! Here are links to the Previous Posts: Pay Per Click Management - Part 1
Pay Per Click Management - Part 5 What does Google Quality Score do for me? I don’t think alot of people know about the Google Quality Score and how it can effect your Pay Per Click Account at Google. If you don’t even know where it is … here is the steps to finding it! Once in your Google Account, click on an Ad Group and look at your keywords. In the Row above your keywords you will see a row that shows: + Add keywords: Quick add | Keyword tool Edit keywords | Search this list Customize columns Click on Customize columns and it will turn into a drop down box and a option in that box should be Show Quality Score … it looks like this:
Once you click on this option it will add another column to the Keywords Section of your account showing you, your Google Quality Score! Here is Google’s Explination of the Google Quality Score: Quality Score is the basis for measuring the quality and relevance of your ads and determining your minimum CPC bid for Google and the search network. This score is determined by your keyword’s clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, and the relevance of your ad text, keyword, and landing page. We believe high quality ads attract more clicks, encourage user trust, and result in better long-term performance. To encourage relevant and successful ads within AdWords, our system defines a Quality Score to set your keyword status, minimum CPC bid, and ad rank for the ad auction. So in plain english … if you have a “Good” Google Quality Score … you are getting the best bang for your buck in the Google Listings because you have followed all rules and your Ad is relevant for the Keyword you are bidding on. If you have a “Poor” Google Quality Score … you are getting “raped” on bid price for those keywords. Why do I use such a harsh word … well because Google is telling you that your ad is not relevant for the keywords you get a Poor on even if the ad is relevant in your eyes … and they are just charging you a higher bid price for the same placement someone else is probably paying less for! Here is an example of what I mean … and you should understand if you have read my previous Pay Per Click Management Posts! By the way if you have missed them … here they are for your reading pleasure:
Pay Per Click Management - Part 2 Pay Per Click Management - Part 3 Pay Per Click Management - Part 4 Ok here is the example … My Car Parts Store Sells AEM Air Intakes … and I am bidding on the keyword {AEM Air Intakes} but I have modified my ad to say: AEM Air Intake Sale Now to you an I, that looks like an ad … for AEM Air Intakes on Sale and a Good Sale at that. However in Google’s Eyes they may not like that ad becuase it looks too much like an ad. You should understand what I mean from my previous posts … if not … take the time and read the entire Pay Per Click Management Series … Please! Ok so that add gets a “Poor” Google Quality Score and what I used to pay .30 cents a click for I am now paying .60 cents a click … for a lower position in the results! This is crazy … now if I edit the add to show: AEM Air Intake Sale All of a sudden I get a “Good” Google Quality Score because Google likes that ad better than the previous one! You can also have a “Poor” Google Quality Score if your just driving traffic to your home page instead of a Product or Brand Page or if your bidding on keywords that are not in your niche … All these factors have a small part in your Google Quality Score and you should check your account because you might have more “Poor” Ads than you even think! My next post in this series will show you how much you may be missing out on if your not using Yahoo and MSN as much as Google. I’m not knocking Google however they are only 60% of most People’s Traffic … do you know where the other 40% of your traffic is coming from? I do!
Pay Per Click Management - Part 6 Google’s only 60% of your Traffic … I hear alot about optimizing for Google and Yes they are #1 however … here is a true story … I have one of my sites that I cannot find in google at all … except for exact terms from the site … but that doesn’t help drive traffic … it’s a very static site … so not much to update … however I have a #1 lising in Yahoo and MSN for that site and it does very well for traffic! The same goes with your Pay Per Click Account! Yes, Google gives you the best bang for your buck … however Yahoo and MSN have alot to offer. For Keywords that are flooded on Google you might be able to find some diamonds in the rough on Yahoo or MSN … just imagine if everyone thought just like you do … “I’m not going to bother with Yahoo or MSN because Google sends me enough traffic” that means Google is packed for your keywords … your paying top dollar to be listed high and your only advertising to 60 percent of the people out there! Lets face it … people use Yahoo and MSN … Yahoo becuase they have been around for so long … e-mail … Yahoo instant messenger … their publisher network … they still have 20% of the market and MSN has all new computer browsers pointing to their home page … so I’m sure they have their 10% of the market! Here’s a tip … if your just starting out with Pay Per Click Accounts … why not start with Yahoo and MSN first … then try google afterwards … This post is not actually a tutorial because you can’t teach someone to use a service … that’s free will … however this is an important issue that could affect your Search Engine Marketing Campaign! The Yahoo and MSN Systems are similar to the Google system so the process is the same … there are some features that differ but I think for all the rookies out there it’s the perfect training grounds! In my next post I will discuss the importance of looking at your target audience … if you have a site you can advertise outside of the US … why not take advantage of some emerging markets out there … for example … Latin America!
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