Audience Based Targeting

Many pointed out that Google’s Display Network (GDN) is making good improvements, but still lacks the user volunteered content that Facebook and LinkedIn have at their disposal.  Managed placements are still the best way to target audiences in the GDN.  Gathering user content could be the reason for Google’s recent social ventures, including +1 and better Gmail ads.  David Szetela also brought up the notion of “audience-need targeting” being better than keyword targeting, but again, not as effective as managed placements.

MSN adCenter

This topic was the elephant in the room as many are not fond of adCenter’s interface and features.  Interestingly enough, some advertisers have seen poorer performance since the Yahoo/Bing search alliance.  Szetela mentioned turning off Yahoo Search Partners to combat this issue.  Chris Kostecki also mentioned that adCenter conversion tracking is convoluted.  Many also made note that we should be able to have separate bids for Yahoo and MSN, something that Melissa Mackey argues for strongly.  The consensus is even though adCenter has a much less friendly UI than AdWords, the platform is still a player in the PPC industry.  Andy Groller noted that adCenter warrants attention due to less competition and lower cost-per-clicks (CPCs).

Quality Score

Another hot topic was AdWords quality score (isn’t it always?)  Low quality scores aren’t desirable, but many argued that as long as these keywords provide a solid ROI, conversion rate, and/or CPA they are fine to keep in the account.  My words were “If a keyword has a great conversion rate or is bringing in much revenue but has poor QS I’m keeping it.”  We all know that click-thru-rate (CTR) is a primary factor that Google uses to determine quality score, but Szetela debunked the landing page factor.  He states there is almost zero correlation between landing pages and quality scores.

AdWords Ad Extensions

Everyone was in agreement that ad extensions lift CTR and help overall campaign performance.  Sitelinks allow you four more chances to include additional benefits and calls to action while product listings qualify traffic prior to the click.  Perhaps the biggest benefit of ad extensions is that they take up more real estate and contain more links to your site.

The first PPC Chat is in the books, but we’re going to do it again next week, same day and time!

Think of this notion in terms of AdWords Search Funnels.  Someone may search for “nike shoes” and click the ad.  This person leaves the site without purchasing anything but then searches for “nike running shoes” 2 days later and makes a purchase.  The conversion will be attributed to “nike running shoes,” but the term “nike shoes” was the first click and assisted in this purchase. 

Here are 2 ways that PPC assists in making revenue, but isn’t always recognized.

Visitors Contacting You through the Site

Many sites have conversion and revenue tracking setup for online purchases, but some do not track contact inquiries and phone calls.  Let’s pretend that I am a retailer researching which brand of men’s running shoes I’d like to sell in my store.  I do a search for “men’s running shoes” and see ads show up for several brands, including: Adidas, Nike, New Balance, and Reebok.  Researching each brand, I decide to carry New Balance running shoes in my store.  I email the company and a week later (after several more back and forth emails) I agree to buy $5,000 worth of New Balance product every month for the next 12 months.  That click on the New Balance ad for the term “men’s running shoes” netted the company a revenue of $60,000.

Without digging deeper, this click would be deemed as yielding no revenue.  Though the conversion might be tracked, it would require follow-up on the company’s part to definitively say this email resulted in revenue.  Just because the conversion process is longer in this situation, it doesn’t mean revenue shouldn’t be attributed to the correct source.

Through your analytics program, every form submission and click on an email address can be tracked.  If your analytics and your sales team are aligned then attributing revenue to the right source is simple, but this isn’t always the case.  Additionally, with call tracking software the source can be identified.  Even without call tracking software, it’s good practice to ask callers how they found you.  Not all customers are going to make a purchase at the first touch point.  Some will contact you and won’t purchase through the site (e.g.: via phone) so this revenue needs to be appropriately attributed.

Purchases Made in Person

Let’s take the same example from above, but say I’m looking to buy myself a pair of running shoes.  I do the same search for “men’s running shoes” and see several different ads.  After browsing each site I decide that I really like a specific model New Balance offers.  I’m hesitant to buy online because I don’t know how the shoe will fit so I go to a New Balance store and make my purchase.  The revenue for this pair of shoes is attributed to the retailer.  As far as New Balance is concerned, the click on the ad yielded no revenue.

In all fairness, attributing revenue to the PPC campaign is extremely difficult in this situation.  Aside from asking the consumer how he heard about New Balance (and even then you aren’t guaranteed the true answer) there is no way to attribute the sale to the PPC campaign.  If your site contains a store locator you can see how many visitors use it, but again, this isn’t a definitive means of tracking revenue.  The bottom line in this case is that some consumers who click your PPC ads are more comfortable purchasing in store.  Though it is nearly impossible to calculate an exact revenue, you should always take this notion into account when determining PPC campaign success.

Conclusion

Going the extra step to determine total PPC campaign revenue can be difficult, but it’s absolutely necessary since you want to make sure the PPC campaign gets the credit it deserves. Don’t think just in black and white terms.  You must understand that additional PPC revenue is generated through other channels and at later times.

How do you make sure you are tracking total PPC campaign revenue?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Thomas Edison once said:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Often we evaluate our PPC efforts from the same perspective; looking at keywords that were too expensive, ad copy that had a low CTR and landing pages that didn’t convert for mistakes to avoid in the future. The problem is that by Edison’s experience you may still be thousands of mistakes from the right answer.

Find Your Bright Spots

For a moment, flip your perspective. Look at your PPC account and ask “What worked?” and then ask yourself “How can I apply those successes to other areas of my account?” But how do you find the bright spots quickly?

Reports

Not all reports are created equal. I polled a group of PPC experts and asked what reports they ran on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Here are the results:

Which AdWords report(s) do you run monthly?

Which AdWords report(s) do you run weekly?

Which AdWords report(s) do you run daily?

Interpreting Reports

Campaign Performance– This was one of the most checked reports by the pros. This high-level report will show you which campaigns are producing the best CTR and cost/conversion. Once you know where the best results are coming from, use further reports to find the golden nuggets.

Placement/Keyword Performance – Another top choice, this report will show you specifically which keywords are producing the best results. You can then consider bid changes to improve position for top converting keywords.

Search Query Performance – This report will tell you the exact phrases that your customers are searching. Here you’ll find variations you would have missed otherwise. Consider adding winners to the appropriate ad group or creating a new ad group if you find a trend. Hint: this report can be run right in the interface.

The equivalent reports can also be run for Bing (Microsoft) and Yahoo (which will merge at some point in the not too distant future).

Spread The Wealth

Now you’ll know which keywords, ad copy and landing pages are successfully delivering traffic and conversions. Ask yourself what underperforming areas could benefit from this insight. Make some changes and then test, test, test.

No matter the size of your budget, you have to practice intelligent PPC tactics. These tactics include tightly-themed ad groups, keyword-dense text ads with strong calls to action, and relevant landing pages. Obviously, a higher budget allows you to do more, like bid on more keywords and place your ads on contextually relevant sites, but without knowledge of PPC techniques your budget is the least of your problems.

Managers of PPC campaigns with small monthly budgets need to be creative at times in order to spend funds as wisely as possible. The list below consists of realistic methods to get the best clicks with a limited budget. By the way, I consider a small budget to be less than $200 a month. It is important to note that these methods are often utilized in campaigns with large budgets, but they become even more necessary with limited funds.

The Fewer Campaigns the Better

AdWords accounts can have up to 25 campaigns, but with a small budget, less is more.  Say your daily budget is $10 and you have 2 campaigns:

Campaign #1 – $6 daily budget
Campaign #2 – $4 daily budget

When you introduce a third campaign your daily budget is broken out like this:

Campaign #1 – $4.75 daily budget
Campaign #2 – $2.25 daily budget
Campaign #3 – $3 daily budget

Adding a campaign to your account decreases the funds allocated to other campaigns, in order to accommodate the $10 daily budget.  Assuming you keep your keyword bids the same, your average CPC will not change, but you will get fewer clicks per campaign.  In the era of first page bid estimates lowering your bids is not always a viable option.  As your campaign daily budgets decrease so does your threshold for ad impressions.  Sometimes smaller accounts have to consist of fewer campaigns for more exposure, which leads to my second point.

Bid on More Long-Tailed Keywords

Generally, the longer your keyword the less expensive it is going to be due to less competition.  For example, “baseball glove” might have a first page bid estimate of $1 where “first baseman’s baseball glove,” is only $0.50.  These long-tailed terms are your friends because they not only cost less but they are better targeted.  You will inevitably see fewer impressions for these keywords, but get better quality clicks.

Eliminate Junk Early

The ability to test keywords, text ads, and landing pages is important, but campaigns with small budgets do not have the luxury to wait for definitive results.  With a larger budget you might allow a text ad 500 impressions before you make a judgment of how well it is converting compared to other ads.  With a smaller budget 500 impressions would take too long to accrue, so you have to make a decision sooner.  Or you might have a keyword that has been clicked 10 times without any conversions vs. a keyword that has been clicked 8 times with 2 conversions.  The sample sizes are small, however, so is your budget and you have to spend funds on what is working.

PPC campaigns with small budgets have a lot less margin for error than those with substantial funds.  However, by practicing the right PPC techniques and taking advantage of these three methods, PPC campaigns with smaller budgets can succeed.

Is it odd to anyone else that MSN still uses the acronym “P4P”? For the most part this term has been replaced by PPC. P4P, or pay-for-placement, was considered too broad. P4P could mean buying a directory listing in Yahoo! or banner advertising on a site, not just the conventional paid search engine platforms. In fact, P4P could mean buying an ad in a newspaper!

I’ve always found this P4P mention in the adCenter interface to be a bit surprising. I know it is a relatively small issue, but MSN desires to be the number one search engine (the advent of Bing, ladies and gentleman). MSN adCenter is a good paid platform, but it will never eclipse Google AdWords if it cannot keep up with the current lingo.

I am making too big a deal of this issue? Post a comment and let me know.