The Internet Marketer» AdWords

New AdWords Ad Extn | email subscription built in

Pete — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:06:43 +0000

The adwords team are trialling AdWords ads that enable a prospect to subscribe directly to a Newsletter etc.

I believe these will be called ‘Communications Ad Extensions’ and look like this one I stumbled over recently

This ad picked up my Google ID and pre-populated the email field with it making it a one click process for prospects to register for a newsletter.

The Communications Ad Extension is another Ad Extension in an increasing portfolio being offered by AdWords

Are your ads using Ad Extensions to maximise your online advertising ?

Cheers

Pete

VOIP Numbers dont work in Adwords ad extensions Got a VOIP phone number? Forget about using it in...
Google AdWords | Auto-spell checking your keywords ? Google Adwords has introduced (yet another) feature this time to...

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Google AdWords | Auto-spell checking your keywords ?

Pete — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:03:37 +0000

Google Adwords has introduced (yet another) feature this time to deal with typos and spelling errors in your clients searches

Typically if you use Phrase or Exact versions of keywords, you’ll miss out on typos/misspelt versions of these terms

The alternative is resorting to using broad match which introduced its own issues

Adwords has now introduced a ‘feature’ to match these typos with your target terms, but presumably without the broad search ugliness*. Here’s how it should work:

Ill watch with interest to see what happens

* Broad term ugliness experiment
Add a term into Adwords with no match syntax
Let your campaign run for a week or so
Prepare yourself for Ugliness (ie take a seat; suck in a breath; grit your teeth)

Go to Dimensions | Search Terms (in dropdown menu)

The page will reveal the ACTUAL search terms being searched

Make a note of the plethora of seemingly irrelevant terms that have wasted your click budget

At this point bemoan the ugliness of broad matches
Use negative keywords and apply a cold compress to forehead

VOIP Numbers dont work in Adwords ad extensions Got a VOIP phone number? Forget about using it in...

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A legal precedent restricting keyword advertising?

Pete — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:54:35 +0000

Landmark legal decision about using Google Adwords ?

The Federal Court has handed down a decision presumably setting a legal precedent that may impact “competitor campaign” strategies.

A competitor campaign uses your competitor’s name or product as a ‘keyword’ to trigger the display of your Google ads in your campaign that present your busines sor products

eg If your compeditor is XYZ then your online advertising displays your business or products should there be a search for XYZ

The Court held that “ had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct through the use of the Google Adwords to create a sponsored link…” …because the use of keywords in this manner (ie the ads) implied there was an association between the businesses.

This was therefore considered to be a breach of the Trade Practices Act

Caused by Keyword Insertion ?

Where this becomes interesting/challenging is if your Adwords campaign uses keyword insertion to insert the searchers terms into your ads.

In these cases as the advertiser you have no control over whether a competitors name or brand is part of the original search (which is then automatically inserted into the ads) -

From my interpretation of reports in various legal blogs it may be that keyword insertion was in fact used in the Adwords campaign and that the advertiser is probably innocent from blatant misleading and deceptive conduct and simply naive about Adwords keyword insertion facility.

I wonder if this was raised in court (or even understood by the parties involved) and if this was the case would there have been an impact on the outcome…?

Google +1 | A new SEO & SEM ranking signal You may have noticed Google’s new +1 indicator next to...

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VOIP Numbers dont work in Adwords ad extensions

Pete — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:50:26 +0000

Got a VOIP phone number?
Forget about using it in your AdWords telephone ad extensions or in Google Places, because as I discovered today neither of these Google services will allow you to register the services using a VOIP telephone number.

I thought I had a configuration or input error but the Google AdWords Helpdesk confirmed that VOIP numbers are not to be used in AdWords

As I had the same issue with Google Places, I can only assume that is also the case

This is a significant online marketing disadvantage for these folks

I’d be interested hear if folks in other countries are having the same issue

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Google +1 | A new SEO & SEM ranking signal

Pete — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:25:41 +0000

You may have noticed Google’s new +1 indicator next to search results ? Its Google’s incarnation of the FaceBook “Like” that’s popped up everywhere in recent times

Google +1 can be seen by logging in with your Google ID and as you search they appear in organic and paid search (Adwords) results

Significantly, +1 Metrics reporting has now appeared in Google’s WebMasters Tools
For folks outside of the SEO industry, Google’s WebMasters Tools (WMT) is the definitive Google control panel for websites, allowing a registered user to view website stats, issues and errors and even suggestions for improving its Google search performance.

Google +1 is a new ranking factor
There have been regular updates to WMT over the years, and these often provide insight into how Google is tuning its ranking factors; but the +1 metrics addition to WMT has nothing subtle about it with a +1 Search Impact page that will let you see exactly how +1′s affect your site’s performance in search results

The WMT Help + FAQ goes on to address topics like:

How does +1 affect search results?
Does +1 affect my site’s performance in search?
How will the +1 button affect my traffic?
Will +1’s from my site show up in search results?
How does the +1 button affect my ads?

Google +1 and your AdWords campaign
Not convinced about the impact of +! yet ? Did I mention that +1 also appears on Adwords ads ?

It would seem that your campaign or even individual ads will be impacted, most likely through the Adwords Quality Score
This is turn means it will effectively cost you more per click if your ads are not getting a few +1′s especially in really competitive campaigns

In summary, Google has used its considerable influence to “encourage” the use of its own social voting system.
If you want online exposure through organic or paid search it looks like you’ll now have to play the +1 game…

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Reflective Advertising in AdWords | Listening to your clients

Pete — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:56:22 +0000

Reflection is a listening technique where the listener echos key aspects of the conversation back to the speaker; it is a confirmation of understanding; a signal that the listener is engaged and paying attention to the speaker. It is a powerful strategy to engage a speaker.

Not surprisingly, a similar technique also applies to online advertising, and is also equally effective in engaging the searcher.

In my experience a ‘reflective ad’ will typically outperform even the most creative text ad.

Building a reflective ad

To build a reflective AdWords ad we are going to use Google AdWord’s Keyword Insertion capability to reflect the searchers term back at them.

Keyword insertion is a special ad statement {Keyword} that substitutes a searched term into the ad text. This can be added into your ad copy, the display URL or even the destination URL

When the ad is operating, the searcher sees their own search term where ever {keyword} appears in your ad eg assume the searched term was premium widgets

Practical reflective ads

All good so far, but ad text lengths still apply, so if your searcher enters a long term, your ad could be too long, so keyword insertion provides an alternative value should this occur.

So in this example, a long search term would end up looking like this:

Proper case

A final refinement with the Keyword Insert is it ability to change the case of the original search query. This subtle but important presentation refinement is set by the capitalisation used in the keyword command word itself viz:

Your ad’s title	How the ad title appears to users	What part of the keyword is capitalised?
Buy {keyword:Puppies}	Buy golden retrievers	No part
Buy {Keyword:Puppies}	Buy Golden retrievers	The first letter of the first word only (sentence capitalisation)
Buy {KeyWord:Puppies}	Buy Golden Retrievers	The first letter of each word (initial capitalisation)
Buy {KEYWord:Puppies}	Buy GOLDEN Retrievers	The entire first word and the first letter of each additional word
Buy {KeyWORD:Puppies}	Buy Golden RETRIEVERS	The first letter of the first word and the entirety of each additional word
Buy {KEYWORD:Puppies}	Buy Golden Retrievers	The first letter of each word (initial capitalisation)

Note that AdWords Capitalisation rules also apply which dictate there should be no excessive capitalisation

More information on Keyword Insertion is available here: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=74996

So, set up a reflect ad in your campaigns, and test my theory that they will outperform your other ads.

Ill be interested to hear your results

Cheers
Pete

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Google AdWords | Conversion based bidding

Pete — Tue, 04 May 2010 01:52:56 +0000

Today Google announced an enhancement to the AdWords Conversion Optimizer to allow Target Cost Per Aquisition (CPA) Bidding. This enables advertisers to set the average amount they’d like to pay for a conversion rather than simply a maximum click bid.

The Conversion Optimizer is one of a series of excellent tools built into AdWords that it seems many people dont realize exist.

Google says

Analysis indicates that, on average, those of you who use Conversion Optimizer experience a 21% increase in conversions along with a 14% decrease in CPA.*

This analysis compares the performance of Conversion Optimizer campaigns over the course of a year with a control set of campaigns and represents the average impact of Conversion Optimizer. The actual impact will vary from campaign to campaign.

Not bad for a free tool! Read more

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Campaign to increase sales

Pete — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:00:32 +0000

Looking to increase sales? Even if your site is already generating leads or sales, there is scope to improve it further through campaigning i.e. short promotional activities designed to engage client interest.

In supermarkets we see these as ‘specials’; and we get bombarded with them in TV advertising, so consider using a campaigning strategy to promote your business via your website.

Ideally a campaign will add value for your clients, while not costing you much if anything e.g.

• Seasonal products or services
• Launching a new product
• Engaging a new client segment
• Bundling to create a larger sale
• etc

These are all opportunities to engage and entice your clients. Try to be creative, but avoid discounting! Here’s a few tips to get you started with your online campaigning.

Paid search for campaigns
Paid search is ideal for campaigning because it is quick to deploy and can be highly targeted. Google AdWords is the most popular paid search system because of Google’s absolute domination of search in Australia.

If you want to reach Australian women 25-34 years; Small business owners based in Adelaide or South Australians with interests in a particular hobby or indeed almost any other target segment, AdWords will do this for you much cheaper than traditional marketing mediums.

The Google Keywords Tool lets you select keywords and you can add up to 2,000 into AdWords based on your target and budget.
Control your Google AdWords expenditure with a daily click budget.
If you have multiple segments then setup multiple Ad Groups for improved targeting, and get campaigning almost straight away.

Organic search campaigning
Using organic search for campaigning can challenging, but ultimately more rewarding. It is rare these days to find keywords that are not already being targeted and competitive keywords take months of lead time to gain appropriate ranking.

A good PageRank on your home page really helps so continue collecting links to your site.
There is an inherent delay from adding your campaign content to it being digested by Google so you can’t rely on attracting campaign related searches immediately. Because of this I suggest starting with a teaser on your home page linked to the campaign page.

If you have recurring or seasonal campaigns, leave the related pages active in your site rather than removing them. This allows search engines to index the page and you to cultivate links to improve its ranking ready for the critical period.
Prepare your site early for upcoming seasons and then lure search engines to update your new content by submitting your XML Sitemap.

Measuring your campaign success
As always, I recommend tracking your campaign with Analytics.
When there are no related visitors then you need to revisit how you are trying to attract them.

If you do generate campaign traffic, but no sales don’t be disheartened. Analytics can track visitor activity trends (i.e. click streams) through your website, which is effectively their feedback on your offer.

Click stream analysis is the online alternative to focus groups, only your visitors tell you what they think with mouse clicks. Modify your offer and try again.
Mike Moran’s book title says it all: Do it wrong quickly

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Internet marketing Mentoring can give real results

Pete — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:03:58 +0000

I was very pleased to hear from Wayne Van Elsen from Newport Digital today about his success with AdWords paid search.

In a recent internet marketing mentoring session I guided Wayne through some refinements and tips for his home grown AdWords (pay per click advertising ) campaign.

After these tweaks, Wayne contacted me today to say that he’d closed $1,500 worth of business for a mighty investment of less than $3 for the clicks.

Wayne had previously given up on Adwords after an intial attempt, but he’s a convert now!

Well done Wayne!

Also special thanks to the ( 2009 International Incubator of the Year Award winning) team at North West Business Development Centre (NWBDC) who make the mentoring possible.

NWBDC’s mentoring services funds guy’s like myself to spend quality time with small business owners and their staff to develop skills to build their businesses; in my case the sessions are on using websites as a sales tool, but there’s a range of other consultants covering a range of business services.

Wayne’s business NewPort Digital provides websites suited to folks looking for low cost entry websites, but that can readily grow into substantial online presence without major expense.

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AdWords’ search-based keyword tool now available in Oz

Pete — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:07:14 +0000

Google’s getting a bit superman-like with its barrage of enhancements for AdWords - i.e. they’re coming in faster than a speeding bullet… Today they launched the Search-based Keyword Tool into Australia

This tool compares current search activities against the content in your website and presents you with suggested keywords, their bid pricing etc

While the tool has been available in limited release since the end of ’08, it is now generally accessible in Australia and elsewhere.

Ive used this tool on several recent projects, and will definitely be including it in my keyword research toolbox.

Try it out here yourself: Search-based Keyword Tool

This release is just one of an unyielding barrage of enhancements and new releases to help your AdWords online marketing campaign be more a more effective sales tool.

Is your AdWords service provider using these tools to make your campaign more competitive for you ?

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