10 Tips To Dominating Ads on Google AdWords Listings

eTaildTail friends at Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Web Marketing Today have a great, free Web video education on mastering Google Adword buys, if that is even possible.

 

I saw it last week and wanted to share it with all of you.  Lance Loveday is excellent.

 

- Chip Arndt

 

 

 

How to Dominate Google AdWords

Web Marketing Today

By: Lance Loveday

As seen on “Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Web Marketing Today”

August 18, 2009

 

"In this video interview paid search specialist Lance Loveday offers the first of 10 tips on how to dominate ads on Google AdWords listings. He discusses the first five tips in this interview:

 

1. Run the Search Query Performance Report to find the actual keyword queries your ads show up for.

2. Calculate the ROI for each match type using the same report, sorting on 'match type' and focus on match types with the highest ROI -- usually exact match. 

3. Run the Placement Performance Report for keywords on the content network, and prune domains that aren't as productive.

4. Run the Campaign Performance Report with 'impression share' checked to see what percentage of the time your ads are shown, then adjust based on available budget.

5. Always be testing at least two versions of your ad copy…"

 

(continue reading and go to Web video education by clicking here)

Pay-Per-Click and Keyword Search Questions To Ask

Many clients have asked MerchantAdvantage questions about how buying keywords on general search engines - as Google, Bing, and Yahoo! Search - translates to using these same keywords when sending their data feeds to shoppping comparison sites, consumer shopping engines, and other comparison shopping engines ("CSEs"), i.e. if an ecommerce merchant is allowed to send keywords in their data feed to CSEs and other shopping destination sites should they use the key word information they have acquired using general search engines to create those keywords?

This is an excellent question and I have a simple answer.  Yes.

Eventhough it might be best to know exactly what keyword searches customers use on a particular CSE and shopping destination site directly, I believe there is a correlation between search on general search engines and comparison shopping engines.  And besides, you never know exactly what keyword search term a customer might use when looking for your product on a comparison shopping engine.

Therefore, the more keyword search terms you can identify and then send to a comparison shopping engine in your data feed the better.  Right?  So why not use research and keywords identified from your general search adword campaigns?  And besides, it does not cost you anything to send keyword tag identifiers in your product data feed to comparison shopping engines....so the more the better!

So, let's call this process the transitivity game = what applies to one search engine probably can help with another - even if that "other search engine" is focused just on products. 

If you like what you are reading, then the following article from eTaildTail friends at Practical Ecommerce will help you identify some of the best keywords that you can also utilize for your product data feeds while provding valuable advice on managing your keyword campaigns.

- Chip Arndt

Ten Pay-per-click Questions An Owner Should Ask

 

Practical Ecommerce

By: Greg Laptevsky

August 13, 2009

"If you own or manage an ecommerce business, you may not directly execute your pay-per-click advertising campaigns yourself. Instead, you may delegate the execution of them to an employee or an outside firm. But owners and managers need to know that broad outlines and the successes and failures of their pay-per-click advertising efforts, and to help them with this I've assembled a list of 10 questions to ask the employee or outside firm who executes the campaign. 

1. How many keywords do we have running? If the answer is anything less than a few thousand, you’re probably not taking advantage of the longtail game of the business. While there are always exceptions, a few thousand keywords for an ecommerce store are not uncommon when you consider all kinds of product and brand variations.

2. What are our top converting terms (by sales volume and spend)? This one is always interesting....

(click here to continue reading) ..it is very helpful!

Extreme E-tail: Sell the Product, Sell the Search, Sell the Space

This is a great article to prepare for the ecommerce holidays. Yes, the holidays are right around the corner for e-commerce merchants.

- Chip Arndt

By John Federman
E-Commerce Times

August 12, 2009 -  "The holidays are months away, but e-tailers should already be well under way in planning how to best take advantage of the November/December traffic surge. Now is the time to look at ways to drive your site's incremental revenue with tactics like adapting brick-and-mortar practices to the Web and monetizing your in-site search results page...."

Click here to learn more...

Online Marketing Options and Helpful Advice From MerchantAdvantage CEO

SPECIAL COMMENTARY

Online Marketing Options and Helpful Advice Going Into 2009

by Michael Lambert, CEO of MerchantAdvantage

It would seem that with all the articles, blogs, webinars, seminars and trade magazines available that all merchants would be completely in the know and up to date on, well, everything. But instead merchants feel they are under-knowledged in terms of what to do.

All of these information dissemination techniques lack the one thing that everyone thinks they want: One Simple Answer.

My belief is that if there was one simple answer, then there would be virtually no way to separate from the pack.  There would be little or no value in going the extra mile, showing up in an unexpected place, or providing special pricing or service.  The truth, for me, is that the difficulty of certain situations is the true opportunity to stand out and be recognized.  But there truly is a great deal to consider when it comes to online marketing.

SEO - Should an online retailer care, or invest heavily in Search Engine Optimization?  Search Engine Optimization allows merchants to leverage their efforts in terms of creating valuable content for their consumers. If a merchants content is well created, and there is interest in that content, then SEO can attract consumers from Google and other search sites.

But at what point does scrutinizing over text and such become an over expensive advertising campaign generating a great deal of interest in non-consumers generating much more work than sales?  The essence of SEO is to be to the point and be as specific as possible about the product, but in a way that matches how consumers look for you products instead of what researchers might type into the search engines.

SEM - Search Engine Marketing is the practice of purchasing space within the search engines to attract those interested in you based on selected keywords that might be typed into the search engine.  By paying for each click that occurs, it once again makes sense to focus a specifically and accurately as possible on words that would be typed by a perspective purchaser. The success of such a campaign might be measured by how much you pay in clicks vs how much you sold directly or indirectly from those clicks. These efforts are somewhat cluttered as many other marketing efforts for which you may compete with your SEM efforts.

CSE - A huge number of online shoppers constantly search for the best places to shop. They often do so using Consumer Shopping Engines (CSEs....better than Comparison Shopping Engines, I think).  Once again you pay for this traffic, so if it doesn’t convert than you’re paying for nothing. How can a merchant keep up with all that is necessary to  perform well in such channels? Click and Purchase tracking, and more importantly the analysis that goes with it, is without question the key to successful CSE marketing.

Enhanced Site Search - Buy providing a better user experience, many merchants find their conversions are greatly enhanced. Providing an easier and more feature rich site search tends to convert lookers to buyers, but with so many other factors in constant flux, this can be difficult to measure.  So finding a site search tool that also increasing some other aspect of marketing would likely yield the best result. An example of enahnced site search can be found with SLI Systems, with whom I recently gave a free Webinar with explaning the many benefits of enhanced site search.

WEB 2.0 - By providing feedback mechanisms such as product evaluations and consumer reviews, news and rss feeds etc... a retailer stays in touch with their consumers and the consumers needs.  This doesn’t always directly translate into profit, but almost always aids in online retailers success, depending on the focus of the online retailer.

So, I think we’re back to the original point, which is that when there is so much information, and so many options, how is a merchant to know which options are best for them? Are all of these marketing efforts needed? 

What’s the one simple answer to this?

In an article that I released through linked in a few months ago I lashed out at retailers complaining that CSEs were really too difficult, and they should be  made easier. In short, I said that with all of the tools and support information available to retailers by the CSEs themselves as well as third party tools (such as MerchantAdvantage), merchants wishing to succeed should take full advantage of such support.

So, for those of you wishing for a simple answer to the questions presented, namely do I need all of these marketing techniques, here’s just one simple answer:  To whatever degree you wish for success, the answer is - YES.

NOTE: Everyone wants a simple path that leads to their goals. But more often the simple path leads to a less desirable destination.

- Michael Lambert, CEO of MerchantAdvantage
(a Web-based tool, marketing company)

Top 5 Things to Consider When Evaluating PPC Management Tools

eTaildTail often relies on experts in their field to eduate us all on the best ways to run our online businesses more efficiently and cost effectively, especially in the fields of ecommerce and mobile commerce.

eTaildTail friends at Apogee Search have put together a wonderful, free "white paper" on things to consider when evaluating Pay-Per-Click ("PPC"), Web-based, marketing tools and how to get the most out of managing your PPC marketing campaigns.

The White Paper is free; find it here.

We hope it helps -- I found it very useful.

- Chip Arndt

Targeted Online Ecommerce Marketing for 2009: Tips and Tricks From MerchantAdvantage

1. The economy is devastating and hurting many of us today. 

We know that fact.

2. Ecommerce is and mcommerce continues to be the most cost-effective ways to reach customers.

Did you know that fact?

3. People are still shopping online, okay not like they used to....but...ecommerce and mcommerce are out performing brick and mortar retail into 2009 and people still like to shop.

Did you know that fact?

4. You can grow sales using consumer shopping engines ("CSEs") and reach millions of potential buyers cost-effectively.

Did you know that fact?

Get fit for 2009 in more ways than one.  Join MerchantAdvantage and its CEO, Michael Lambert, and EVP of Marketing, Chris Barr, for an informative Webinar on how to engage, communicate, obtain and retain online customers.

Sign up here, now.

Targeted Online Ecommerce Marketing for 2009

Getting F.I.T. in 2009:
Focused Intelligent Targeting for Online Marketing

Despite global economic conditions, online retail remains a healthy sector – it also means your customers have increasing expectations of you for every dollar they spend.

So, how do you know you’re making smart marketing choices?  Well...we are here to help.

In this thirty minute webinar, we’ll be looking at:

1. How to create long-lasting relationships with your customers
2. 5 steps to communicating perfectly with your customers
3. How to evaluate which CSEs are most appropriate for you
4. How to use available information to get better return on Ad Spend

MerchantAdvantage will analyze a couple of actual client case studies so you can see the result of asking (or not asking) the right questions.  Join the MerchantAdvantage executive team as we explore ways you can improve your Fiscal Fitness in the coming year by getting more bang for every buck you spend.

Webinar Details:
Date: Thursday, February 5, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM-2:30 PM Eastern / 11:00 AM-11:30 AM Pacific

Enjoy learning from those who have helped thousands of other online merchants grow sales and market online more efficiently and intelligently. 

Sign up now.

- Chip Arndt

What Do These Online Retail Statistics For 2008 Show?

SPECIAL COMMENTARY

By Michael Lambet, CEO of MerchantAdvantage

Well, here we are at the end of 2008 and everyone is either holding their breath to see how things went, or shouting expletives about what they already think they know.  As with all matters of such magnitude, the online retail environment had some bumps, and some interesting growth as well.

After a quick review of some serious statistics by comScore– I was pleased to see the online retail segment that we address almost doubling in volume over last year.  In the face of our current economic setting this is no small feat.

In one portion of the statistics e-commerce revenue was divided into “Referral Tactict” categories such as: Search, e-mail, Comparison Shopping, Coupons and Other.  As a preliminary statement they note that over 33% of online sales activity occurred through a referral mechanism as listed within their Referral Tactic categories, and this overall statistic is up a few percentage points from last year.

You can, and should review their detailed stats when you have the time, but I found this particular chart enlightening.  Quickly, the tactics and parameters were – Search which was down a few points (no surprise there), e-mail was up a bit, Comparison Shopping was almost double the previous year, Coupons were up slightly, and the “Other” category was down.

SEARCH – Sales referrals from Search is one category, and I didn’t see a clear distinction between SEM and SEO.  In either case, the measurement as it stands shows a subtle drop.  I believe there are two main factors that lead to this drop:

1. Monthly cost of SEM in click costs has gone up (though not necessarily the cost per click) and SEO fees are up as well (to the firms hired to “enhance and optimize”, and   
2. Merchants have become more savvy about tracking click to purchase conversions, and are diverting efforts to those that they know will convert.

EMAIL- Email has grown in percentage points, despite the “DON’T SPAM ME” epidemic. It really just goes to show you that there is a way around virtually every marketing obstacle.  With appropriate email partners such as Blue Hornet and Vertical Response, there’s no reason retailers shouldn’t be re-marketing to their existing consumers.  So, revenues caused by emailed referrals was up from 11% last year to just over 16% all “referral tactic” based marketing for online retailers.

COMPARISON SHOPPING – We prefer the acronym CSE be translated as Consumer Shopping Engine these days. But, this category jumps from 2.5% of referral based revenues to 4.7%.

This number may be a bit deceiving as it shows itself as the percentage of all revenues, but not all online retailers use CSEs. So, the question arises, of those merchants using CSEs, which percentage of their referral based revenues are attributed to CSEs?  Obviously more than 4.7%.  So, it’s great being a part of a company that helps merchants market in a segment that is becoming more and more successful.

COUPONS - Coupons went up, but from 1.1% to 1.8%. I think that coupon sites have gotten a bad rap; the thought being that only cost conscious consumers (sometimes called bottom dwellers) use them.  True or not, these are consumers you likely would not have found as they do not frequent your site, nor do they necessarily frequent Consumer Shopping Engines or any other more traditional marketing venues.

There are a few pricing models, but none of them are expensive, and once you’ve got a cost conscious consumer, you presumably have convinced them that you provide a cost effective product line. So, re-market to these humans…  All in all Coupons are clearly becoming a more popular venue.

OTHER – Hmmmmmm. Well, I am an advocate of using unique methods and exploring your options.  Further, Web 2.0 and other new “inventions” have really come a long way. So, in general I’d say the “Other” category should have gone up.   But “nay nay” says comScore.

I would suggest that random and lesser known parts of the “Other” category brought down some of the more successful components of the other grouping.  Product reviews, blogs, and the like seem to be doing well for those merchants with the time to pursue such efforts.  I am wondering how much of the “Other” category is Print, billboards or even standing out in the street and yelling.  Anyway, this ever so broad category was down from 28.7% to 22.9% - which I think is a significant amount, even if it doesn’t really suggest any particular call to action.

Although the 2008 Holiday shopping season grew ever so modestly (6%) over 2007, I think too much focus is placed on the “Modestly”  and “Holiday” season words, and not enough on 2008  vs.  2007. 

Perhaps online retailers need to look more at the rest of the year (9% growth) as an area of focus.  Online retailers, and retailers in general have simply accepted that November and December are THE MONTHS to make all the years revenues look good.  They were never happy about entrusting two months for their overall annual profitability. And yet that consistently is where they look for the big bucks.  Why slight those other pleasant months by not giving them your attentions?

Even if your individual profits only grew 6% over what you would have made without additional efforts, that can often offset a somewhat disastrous holiday season.  And if that disastrous season don’t happen, papa’s gonna buy you a brand new wagon!  (translated: all the better for you).

So, I guess what I’m trying to extrapolate from this information is that sometimes you have to fight the fights that you can win, and that may not be so seasonal as you thought.

-- Michael Lambert, CEO, MerchantAdvantage