Bidding on Pay Per Click Keywords

A short and sweet entry and a MUST read if you buy adwords using Google and/or Yahoo! Search. Since we all do it....read onwards.

What follows is a great article written by Mark Williams, "Best Syndication News", Science Writer, which will help small to mid-sized buisnesses understand, manage and leverage adword marketing campaigns.  I am happy to share this article with the eTaildTail community.

-- Chip Arndt

by Mark Williams, "Best Syndication News", Science Writer

"Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series about making money on the Internet. In the last section we gave some background information concerning Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. This section discusses bidding on keywords. Here is the article:

Not all keywords are created equal in Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. For quite a while, the highest paying keyword was..."

Topics covered in the article are:

• Where to Look-up Keywords
• What Determines Advertisement Position
• How Lower Paying Bids Can Outperform The Higher Bid
• Choice of Keywords
• Picking Keywords
• Trademark Issues

Please <<<CLICK HERE>>> for full article after the jump; it is a great read.

Yahoo! Search: New Minimum Bid Factors

eTaildTail friends over at SearchEngineLand posted some valuable information in regard to Yahoo! Search CPC pricing and I thought it was important for readers of eTaildTail to be aware of those changes.

-- Chip Arndt

From SearchEngineLand:

"Yahoo recently announced that they are moving away from a $0.10 fixed minimum CPC to a variable minimum bid. However, there are some differences in how Yahoo calculates minimum bids tcompared to AdWords. These differences are important to note as you switch between these PPC engines so that each account is properly optimized for each engine according to how the bids are calculated

Yahoo's New Minimum Bid Factors

Yahoo uses two main factors for determining minimum bids:

• value of the keyword
• quality

The value of the keyword factor will frustrate many marketers. This value is calculated by many indicators which include the number of advertisers and those advertisers' bids. This means that for keywords with high competition, the keywords can have higher minimum bids. If there are a few bidders, but they are bidding high amounts, the minimum bids can also be different.

The second factor..."

please <<<CLICK HERE>>> to continue reading entry which continues over at SearchEngineLand.

Pay Per Click versus Pay Per Performance Marketing

Hello eTaildTail community.  I have gotten some mails this week about Pay-Per-Click ad/marketing campaigns versus Pay-Per-Transaction/Performance ad/marketing campaigns.  I wrote some thoughts in a newsletter for MerchantAdvantage and I wanted to share those thoughts with you. There is also a free webinar that you can download associated with these thoughts if you prefer to get your information that way.

I hope these thoughts help.

-- Chip

"You have an online storefront and you have some customers coming to your storefront but you want more. The first thing most online merchants do is jump on the "adword/keyword search" band wagon to get more traffic using search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com, LookSmart and others.

Not a bad idea, since millions of visitors search these sites everyday looking for help. The only problem with this method of marketing is, as an online merchant selling product, you are in the mix with hundreds of thousands of searches that relate to the "keyword" you purchase that may have nothing to do with the actual product search on the product you are trying to sell. Such examples include the history of your product, articles about a product, etc…To get around this, you can always bid higher for a given "keyword" on these search engines to guarantee you are listed on page one, or better yet, you come up at the very top – if you pay enough.

A more effective, or complimentary marketing method, may be to focus on the search engines that only focus on marketing retail products that online merchants sell and also bring in millions of potential customers each day. These are affectionately known as shopping destination sites and include:

1. Marketplaces, such as Amazon.com, Shop.com, JellyFish.com, and Underbid.com
2. Comparison Shopping Engines, such as Pronto.com, PriceRunner.com, PriceGrabber.com, Pronto.com, Shopping.com, Smarter.com, Shopzilla.com, Yahoo! Shopping, and over 100 others. For a complete list please see MerchantAdvantage.com
3. Mobile Commerce Engines, such as mPoria.com and mShopper.com
4. Couparison Shopping Engines, such as MyCoupons.com and CouponMountain.com
5. Product Review Sites, such as PowerReviews.com and Buzzillions.com, and
6. Hybrid Sites: GroupGain.com, NetHaggler.com and other sites, where online shopping occurs but revenue models vary.

These types of sites can be very beneficial to an online merchant, as millions of people come to them everyday looking for products to buy, review, and compare. As with general search engines, these sites do not guarantee sales, but for the most part, when managed correctly, can really help lead potential buyers to your online storefront, which can lead to sales and definitely leads to good branding.

Using Shopping Destination Sites: Choice

Every online merchant should first ask the same question: Which shopping destination site will lead to the most sales?

While an excellent question, it is nearly impossible to say which of over 100 shopping destination sites might work best for your product catalog and lead to the most sales. Everyone usually tries out Amazon, Yahoo! Shopping, Shopping.com, PriceGrabber.com, and Shopzilla.com as they are the best known and have built trust in the marketplace for the customers buying products and the merchants listing products. But these are not your only choices. And, remember, new shopping destination sites with unique business models are popping up every month which can also lead to new sales and branding opportunities.

There are many shopping destination sites from which to choose,..."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to continue reading the free newsletter written by Chip Arndt for MerchantAdvantage. 

It is a good read and I think the advice in it will help online merchants with their PPC campaigns across the board.  And when you click over, there is nothing else you have to do but to enjoy the article, promise!

And here is a link to the other helpful free newsletters. <<<CLICK HERE>>>.

-- Chip

How to Use Keyword Matching Options to Optimize Paid Search Ads

I have posted a few items the past few weeks from Dr. Ralp Wilson because I have found his insights to be very useful and informative.  He is an expert in his field and has really helped some of the online retailers that read eTaildTail each day.

I have always discussed the importance of "matching key word options" with your ad campaigns when you use EITHER general search engines (Yahoo! search, MSN, AOL, Ask.com, or Google) OR the shopping comparison sites' key word features -- so don't miss out on his recent missive.

Happy reading.

-- Chip

How to Use Keyword Matching Options to Optimize Paid Search Ads

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Editor, Web Marketing Today

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article

"You can waste a lot of money -- or fail to earn your share -- if you haven't learned to use the keyword matching features available for Pay Per Click (PPC) ads on Google AdWords, MSN AdCenter, or Yahoo! Search Marketing. When you set up keywords to bid on, you need to select the appropriate kind of keyword matching -- or you'll be assigned the default Broad Match, which could cost you dearly.

With Paid Search you're trying to get the highest number of sales conversions at a cost that still allows a reasonable profit. Usually this means trying for a large number of targeted customers, while keeping your average cost-per-click low. Of course, Paid Search requires a trade-off between higher cost words that convert better and lower cost words that don't convert quite as well. Keyword matching options are the chief tools at your disposal to maximize target traffic, minimize wasted click-throughs, and control your costs. Here are the types of matches to choose from:

Match Type	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
Broad match (default)	Shows your ad whenever your keywords are used -- in any order -- or in combination with other search terms. "Camera lens" will show up under "telephoto camera lens " and "lens for camera," as well as "buy camera lens" but not "buy lens"	May bring in keyword matches you haven't thought of and is likely to create a higher traffic volume that other matching options.	May bring untargeted traffic that won't convert well. General keywords are usually more expensive than more specific keywords. Broad match is the default unless you specify another type of match.
Phrase match (designated in Google AdWords by enclosing with quotation marks)	Similar to broad match, but your keyword phrase must be searched on the in the exact word order you specify. "Camera lens" will match "telephoto camera lens" and "buy camera lens" but not "lens for camera"	Provides somewhat greater specificity than broad match, which means that you may get a higher conversion rate and exclude some irrelevant search combinations. Can be used for rather obscure keyphrases without excluding related searches. Useful for including place names when you are advertising a local business.	Could still provide matches for untargeted traffic. Watch carefully.
Exact match (designated by enclosing with brackets)	Searchers must match your keyword phrase exactly, with no other keywords in addition. "Camera lens" will not match "buy camera lens" or "camera lenses."	Allows greatest specificity for keywords and thus only the most relevant searches, producing the potential for a higher conversion rate.	Will require greater set up time, since you'll have a keyword for every possible combination. Could restrict traffic from search terms you haven't included.
Negative match (designated by preceding with a minus sign/hyphen)	Prevents a match from a search phrase that includes one of your negative keywords. For example, if you sell only SLR lenses, you might list as negative matches "cover," "DV," "video," etc. to prevent matches for "camera lens cover" or "DV camera lens" or "video camera lens."	Prevents irrelevant click-throughs for products in different industries or products you don't sell. Can decrease costs and increase conversion rate.	No downside when used carefully.

Convert Your Clicks: Combine Search Marketing and Landing Page Optimization Intelligently

Here is some good advice from our friends over at Yahoo! Search Marketing.  I learned a lot, I hope you do too.
 
And this piece follows up nicely on yesterday's blog and my prior entry titled:

"Why YOU "Can" Fail With Google Adwords...AND Any Adword Campaign"

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for that blog entry and thoughts therein and also read below for valuable advice and tips and tricks to maximize your search, adword campaigns.

-- Chip

By Amy Borowicz

Ten landing page tips to turn visitors into customers

"There’s something about a ten-item list that makes us want to get all Hestonian on you and break out the archaic pronouns, especially when it comes to something like getting people who visit your site to actually buy from you. After all, you work hard to get clicks. What could be more important than turning those clicks into customers?

But we’re kind of a live-and-let-live bunch here, and we’re not so big on telling people what they have to do. So consider these a set of suggestions about how to help optimize your landing pages. That way, when people get to your site, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase.

1. Tell them why they should buy from you

Clarity of your value proposition is the most important factor in determining whether a customer buys from you or not. Ask yourself the question: “Why should I buy from this site?”

2. Keep ‘em with you

Protect your landing pages from the #1 threat to conversions: site flow disruption. After identifying a unique and compelling Value Proposition, you must ensure that you express it throughout your sales process in a clear, consistent and compelling way. Eliminate site flow disruption to help maximize conversions.

3. Don’t try to say too much

Don’t clutter your landing page with unnecessary details. Instead:
• Clearly state your key message using as few words as possible
• Use summary descriptions, sub-headings, bulleted lists and short paragraphs
• Adopt a standard one-column format for easy reading.

4. Make it simple

Improve the user experience with a site that is easy to navigate. A simple page layout that employs a clean visual and straightforward design is best. Here’s how:

• Design your site with a clear hierarchy with color and contrast for easily legible text
• Use meaningful and high-quality graphics (don’t clutter with too many)
• Use breadcrumbs to let visitors know where they are on your site
• Employ a clickable logo that takes the visitor to your homepage
• Use color to distinguish between visited and unvisited links.

Just as important, make sure you don’t:

• Employ horizontal scrolling
• Direct links to new browser windows
• Have flash-based content unless required.

5. Call them to action

Focus on one primary action per screen (don’t stuff too many products onto one screen). Make the call-to-action button clearly visible without having to scroll; don’t bury it under pages of information. Consider using tabs or a pop-up box to consolidate information.

6. Get specific

Provide product details and a large product image while displaying incentives—such as free shipping and warranty information—high on the page and close to the product. Don’t discourage visitors by requiring registration to your site.

7. Flaunt what you’ve got

What differentiates you from your competitors? Free shipping (both ways?), discounts, a 365-day warranty, price protection, privacy, customer service, etc.? If you’ve got it, flaunt it!

8. Search yourself

Make your site easy to navigate by helping potential customers find what they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible. A search feature box should be simple and visible with a type-in field, not a link. To help increase conversions, make sure your search results link to product pages.

9. Rally the believers

Credibility is a true testament: people don’t buy from websites, people buy from people. Thus, testimonials from devout customers—or even a letter from the CEO/Editor—persuades the unbelieving.

10. Let them make the choice

“Why should I buy this specific product?” Almost every e-tailer forgets about this, but it’s the question that’s key to Mr. or Ms. Customer’s mind. Prove to him or her why they should buy this over the competitive product by offering reviews, ratings and comparisons."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for full article on the Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

Search Engine Traffic: Does it Really Lead to Sales?

I have received lots of emails asking me about search engine campaigns and whether or not they drive quality traffic = click to sales to their website, and how to integrate regular search, on the likes of Google Search, Yahoo! Search, MSN Search, Looksmart and Ask.com, with shopping comparison search using comparison shopping engines.

I believe that intelligent online marketers can increase their ROI (return on investment) whether they use just search engines as Yahoo!, Google, MSN Search, Looksmart or Ask.com OR comparison shopping engines as Shopzilla, PriceGrabber, Pricerunner, Smarter, GolfPricer.com, Ciao, or over 100 others....OR, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS APPROACH, use BOTH.

The reason that I recommend both as that a combined, or integrated, campaign will increase organic search and traffic to your site.  So here are some statistics that I thought you all should see.

The information below is from "Major Search Engine Traffic Analysis" as presented by representatives from Hitwise, Neilsen/NetRatings and others at the 2007 search Engine Strategies conference in London.  The data is almost 10 months old but relevant none the less.

-- Chip

Retail Websites Receive 25 Percent Of Their Traffic From Search Engines

Over past two years, significant changes have occurred in the way U.S. Internet users search. The following are some key changes in how search has impacted traffic to Shopping websites.

In May 2007, search engines were responsible for 25 percent of visits going to Shopping websites, an increase of 0.7 percent since May 2006.

Google is the most prominent source of traffic for Shopping websites, and is growing more rapidly as a source of shopping traffic than the search engine category as a whole. In May 2007, Google accounted for 15.6 percent of Shopping visits, an increase of 8.7 percent since May 2006.

Single word search queries (including domain and URL searches) accounted for 23.7 percent of search terms sending traffic to Shopping websites in May 2007. This number increased by 20 percent since May 2005, indicating that search toolbars are being used more frequently as a primary means of navigation.

Source: Hitwise

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• 93% of all internet traffic is generated from internet search engines
• 89% of them are first-time visitors
• 99% of internet searchers do not search beyond the top 30 results
• 97% of them never look beyond the top three results
• Top 10 positions receive 78% more traffic than those in positions 11-30
• 65% of online revenue is generated from websites in the top three positions on search engine results pages (SERPs)
• 93% of global consumers use search engines to find websites
• 76.7% of Google users use the natural search links (organic, unpaid listings)

Source: Forrester Research, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here are some figures from February 2007...which have only gotten better over the last year. Note: The research institutes usually take a year to update their data to esnure accuracy.

These search engine statistics were presented by representatives from Hitwise, Neilsen/NetRatings and others at the recent Search Engine Strategies conference in London.

Global search engine use:

• 256 million people visited a search engine in December 2006 – this represents 81% of global internet users.
• The global search audience has grown by 10% over the last year, while the total Internet audience grew 8%.
• Search engine use grew dramatically in France (27%) and Spain (21%), ahead of the US (8%), though the US remains the largest search market
• Search is most popular in the UK (85%), France (83%) and Spain (83%). For the US, the figure is 77%.
  The average search engine user views 93 search pages a month, taking an average of 27 minutes.
  Google’s global dominance:
• Google’s audience has grown almost 2.5 times the rate of search’s. It now has almost 3 times the audience of Yahoo Search.
• Google had a 71.6% share of the global search market between August 2006 and January 2007.
  In the same period, Yahoo had an 11.1% share of the market.
• From January 20 to February 12 this year, Google’s share dropped to 67.1%

Google Says Mobile Advertising is The Future

So what do you do when Google says that it believes mobile advertising is the future?  (see below article for reference to Google and their plans for mobile advertising)

1. Do nothing.

or

2. Take notice and prepare your online storefront for the advent of mobile shopping.

It is really that simple.

I know that Google "believing in/betting on" online mobile advertising does not immediately translate into more people shopping online, as the first large wave of mobile advertising will focus on sports events, ticket sales for various events, and brand advertising for banks and larger companies that have an established brand, but this news does bode well for the growth of all related mobile services, including mobile shopping.

My belief is that as Google, and the 20-35 year old generation, become even more reliant on the their "little mobile" devices to do everything from make phone calls, text messaging, watch video, listen to music, find directions, look at pictures, and scour the internet, so too will they become more comfortable with shopping and then buying products online.

I personally never thought I would be buying products via my cell phone just 3 years ago, but frankly, after setting up an account once with a mobile technology service, I have bought over $500 worth of gift items and sent them to friends the past two months.

It happened one day when I was reminded that I needed to be at the aiport two hours in advance of my flight to guarantee that I would make it through security and check my bags going to London.

Lo and behold, I made it through security in 30 minutes and had 1.5 hrs. to kill before my flight departed.  I thought about a friend, who did something very nice for me earlier that day, and I bought her a gourmet food item via my blackberry, then, I sent my sister some flowers to cheer her up, and, finally, I searched for the best price for a new HD TV to watch the superbowl (no I did not buy the TV, but it was fun and easy to hunt around and compare prices = comparison shopping).

The point being is that those who say that mobile shopping is not a big deal are missing the boat.  Setting up an online, mobile storefront is easy and inexpensive. It gives you reach and and in less than 3 months you can get real time results of whether it works for your company. 

So, my advice....get a mobile storefront today and get in the game...Google is!

-- Chip

PS For great mobile shopping companies to set up an account check out:

mPoria.com and  mShopper.com, MerchantAdvantage supports both with a click of a button!

From Sky News, UK <<<CLICK HERE>>> for full article

"A huge revolution in location-based advertising is soon to take place, according to the chief exec of Google.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, Eric Schmidt said that mobile users could be affected by the soon-to-be truly mobile internet.

"It's the recreation of the Internet, it's the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us - and it is very likely it will happen in the next year", he told assembled journalists.

At the moment, reports Reuters, analysts have been cautious about the future of mobile advertising, or advertising that targets where the phone users is, and consultancy Forrester predicting revenues of under $1 billion by 2012.

But, according to Schmidt, this is a massive underestimation.

He explained that Google wants to be a key player in this market by bidding for airwaves to launch an open US wireless network, which would see it competiting against established telecommunications players.

Analysts immediately responded by stating their concerns that Google would be over stretching itself as it would be a very expensive move tbut Schmidt dismissed this saying that location-based advertising - which could, for example, direct hungry travelers to nearby restaurants - would be "a very, very good business".

Why YOU "Can" Fail With Google Adwords...AND Any Adword Campaign

Adwords are such an important aspect of all small to mid-sized online merchants' online marketing campaigns that I speak to everyday, whether they are using adwords for "general" search engines as Ask.com, Google.com, MSN, or Yahoo! Search or shopping comparison engines. So I thought it very important to share a wonderful analysis I read by Leighton James, a real expert!

I think this will help all of you better manage 2008 adword buys, expectations, and strategic marketing within all of these channels, not just Google.

Happy Reading and Learning,

-- Chip

By Leighton James

Originally published in SiteProNews, January 04, 2008

Google AdWords is a Highly competitive pay per click (PPC) search engine, it's now more important than ever to ensure that your PPC campaigns are optimized to their utmost potential. All of us want to achieve maximum return on investment (ROI) for the keywords or phrases that are most relevant to our businesses, and are most likely to provide our sites with targeted traffic.

I will go over the costly mistakes that most business owners make when using adwords.

• Creating a long list of less than targeted keywords
• Failing to identify unique aspects of your product or service
• A lack of keywords in your ad text
• Directing users solely to your home page
• Creating single ad groups
• Utilizing single campaigns
• Using broad match only
• Failing to optimize ad serving for your ads failing to track results
• Entering the content network without modifying bids

1. Creating a Long List of Poorly Targeted Keywords

When you first set out to create your AdWords campaign, it's important not to go "keyword crazy" -- resist the temptation to create long lists of irrelevant, generic keywords. For example, if you ran an automotive dealership then, it wouldn't be in your best interests to target the keyword "truck." The cost per click (CPC) for such a generic keyword would be incredibly high when compared to a more descriptive and relevant keyword, such as "T-Z783 Extended Cab."

Similarly, the keyphrase "tail light covers" would not produce conversions if you strictly conducted automotive sales only. The phrase may bring visitors to your site, but if they don't find what they're looking for when they get there, they'll leave just as quickly as they arrived.

It's important to identify your specific niche, and to market directly to users who want the products and services that you offer. Don't trick yourself into thinking that broader is better. With AdWords, that's just not true.

2. Failing to Identify Unique Aspects of your Product or Service

Before you implement your AdWords campaign, you must understand exactly what it is that makes your organization stand out from the competition. By identifying your unique products, services, or offerings, you'll see clearly how you can rise above your competitors and zone in on the keywords or phrases that are unique to your business.

I'd recommend that you perform an analysis of your competition. Have a look and see what they're doing, and which phrases they're using. After you've conducted a competition analysis, and you understand what makes your products or services unique, you'll be able to come up with a strategy that will topple your competitors.

3. A Lack of Keywords in your Ad Text

When you're creating descriptive ad copy, it's imperative that you manage to inject your keywords in to your title and description while maintaining a delicate balance between clarity and relevance. Your ad copy should be tailored in such a way that as visitors read it, they understand exactly what they can expect when they click on your ad.

4. Directing Users Solely to your Homepage Few

site owners take the time to decide which destination URL should be applied to each ad. Instead, they point all ads in a campaign to the site's homepage, then wonder why they're not getting decent conversions.

If you've spent time compiling a list of relevant keywords that describe the unique aspects of your offering, why on earth would you send everyone to your homepage in the hopes that they'll navigate through the site to find what they're looking for?

Why not send them straight to the page that contains exactly what was described to them in the ad copy? Referring back to our example, if, as the automotive dealership owner, you'd created an ad that contained the keyword "T-Z783 Extended Cab," which URL would you send prospects to? Instead of sending them to www.auto-motive-dealership.com, you'd send them straight to www.auto-motive-dealership.com/T-Z783_Extended_Cab.html, of course!

5. Creating Single Ad Groups

If you categorize ads that target related keywords into a common AdWords ad group, you'll establish a high level of control over your entire campaign.

Let's image that you own a sporting goods store. You might start by grouping all the ads you'd targeted towards hockey skates into a single ad group. You'd then create another ad-group which would contain ads that targeted hockey sticks, another that contained ads for hockey gloves, and so on.

Organizing your ad group structure in this manner gives you the ability to create in-depth reports on each ad-group, and to make real changes that have a significant impact on those ads' performance over time.

6. Utilizing Single Ad Campaigns

Once you have your AdWords ads sorted into easily identified ad groups, you can move on to the next step: creating campaigns.

In the example above, we created ad groups that contain ads relating to separate products: hockey skates, sticks, gloves, and so on. Now, it's time to create a container entitled "hockey equipment" to hold all of the ad groups in the campaign. Then, you can repeat the process of creating ad groups for tennis -- one group for shoes, one for racquets, and so on -- and drop all the groups into a single campaign called "tennis equipment."

Having highly organized campaigns is the key to determining which ads are creating the optimal conversions. Don't simply put all your ads into the one campaign -- split them into separate campaigns to make tracking and amending the ad groups easy.

7. Using Broad Match Only

Unless you take advantage of the phrase matching options that AdWords makes available, chances are that you're missing out on potential customers and creating a higher CPC for yourself.

As the name suggests, broad matches are usually less targeted than exact and phrase matches. Broad matching is the default option under which your ads will appear for expanded matches such as plurals or relevant keyword variations.

When you utilize phrase matching, your ad will appear for your chosen search terms in the order that you specify, and sometimes for other terms, too. Exact matching is by far the most targeted option to use, so don't neglect it! You ad will appear for the exact keyword you specified. The negative keyword option is also a great tool -- it allows you to specify the keywords for which you don't want the ads to appear. Here's a quick example of how these targeting options work:

Broad match: Default option: blue widget Phrase match: Surround the keyword in quotes: "blue widget" Exact match: Surround the keyword in square brackets: [blue widget] Negative match: Place a negative character before the keyword: -blue widget Take the time to test these different matching techniques, and to tweak your selections to improve your conversions. Broad matching is not necessarily the best -- or only -- option!

8. Failing to Optimize Ad Serving for your Ads

When you take advantage of the AdWords ad serving service, you'll ensure that your most popular ads are displayed more often.

The AdWords platform will give more weight to the ads with the highest click through rates (CTRs), and will display them more often than ads with lower (CTRs) in the same ad group.

9. Failing to Track Results

In order to have any idea about your AdWords campaign's performance, you must be able to identify which keywords work and which do not. Google AdWords supplies a vast array of very useful tracking tools. Google has also built into the AdWords interface Google Analytics -- a marvellous web analytics tool that provides in-depth reporting on all aspects of your campaign's performance.

I cannot stress enough the importance of creating goals for your AdWords campaign, then comparing your actual performance against these goals so that you can gauge your success.

10. Entering the Content Network without Modifying Bids

The AdWords platform has recently given advertisers the ability to set different bids for the content network than for the search network.

If you don't set different bids on the content network for your keywords, you'll be paying more than you should be for each click. Lower the prices on certain keywords, and you'll notice that the number of clickthroughs you'll receive will remain the same as at the higher bid."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for whole story and if you find this information valuable, please click over and make a comment directly to Leighton James.

Quick Fixes to Some of PPC’s Most Common Problems: Tips For Solving 3 Most Common Paid Search Problems

Experts rule! :-)  Well, maybe not rule, but it makes it much easier for small to midsized online retailers to understand ad word management when they hear it from someone in the trenches.

So here is some great information on Pay-Per-Click ad management for the eTaildTail community from our friends over at PPCHero.

Hope it gives you some good insights.

-- Chip

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for full story and more great advice from PPCHero.

By John at PPCHero

"When you’re first starting out in pay-per-click advertising, there is a tremendous learning curve. You have to discover the inner workings of 3 (sometimes more) different PPC advertising platforms. There is the trial and error of figuring out which tools and methods work for your particular account. And then there is learning how to react to the myriad of issues that can arise when managing a PPC account. This week I’d like to point out some of the most common problems advertisers run into and offer quick fixes to get you back up and running! Today I’ll be discussing what to do with a low or decreasing conversion rate; how to respond to poor Quality Score; and how to avoid low quality click traffic.

Low Conversion Rates

One of the most difficult problems facing advertisers is low conversion rates. No matter what you’re going for, be it sales, leads or sign-ups, conversions are typically the most important goal of your PPC labors. Here are some quick fixes to increase your conversion rates:

Break down your keywords into tightly themed ad groups so that your ad texts are extremely relevant and highly targeted.

Do some keyword research and be as specific as possible. If you’re selling “blue suede hiking boots” (and I’m sorry if you are!), don’t rely on the keyword “hiking boots” to increase your conversion rate. Beyond simply being specific, you should really dig into the “long tail” of keywords. For example, retailers should test using model numbers as keywords (i.e. Yamaha Tenor Saxophone YTS82ZM).

Write ads that are directly relevant to your product or service (why item #1 is so important). But I urge you to take the next step beyond simple relevancy. Use calls to action, infuse your company’s benefits into the mix, and insert prices, special offers and phone numbers if applicable. The key here is to test (you won’t get all of that into a single ad).

Send the traffic to the “right” landing page. Since your specific keywords and awesome ad text have already brought the customer to your doorstep, the landing page is where you truly must convert the customer. Search marketers harp on this point all the time, and for good reason. Test after test has shown that sending traffic to a product/service specific landing page versus the generic homepage will dramatically increase your conversion rates.

Poor Quality Score

Google AdWords’ Quality Score is definitely a major issue for many advertisers. While you may not be able to immediately see the affects changes make to your Quality Score, quick fixes will definitely go a long way to getting your efforts started:

Break down your keywords into tightly themed ad groups so that your ad texts are extremely relevant and highly targeted. Sound familiar?

Write ads that are directly relevant to your product or service. What’s that you say? A theme?
Send the traffic to the “right” landing page. Hmmm…

Ok. All joking aside, improving Quality Score isn’t really that difficult. If you follow some of the general best practices for account structure and keep the customer/end user in mind, you’ll improve your Quality Score (and conversion rates!) in a hurry.

Low Quality Traffic

Many new advertisers will build a PPC campaign, flip the “ON” switch and then wonder in amazement at how such a large number of unqualified visitors came to their website. Managing PPC in this manner will waste your time, resources and most importantly your money! Here are some basic settings and tactics to consider for bringing higher quality traffic to your site:

“Quality Traffic” will mean something different to every advertiser. Is it location? Is it demographics? First and foremost you must determine what defines a quality visitor to your site.

All of the major PPC platforms have Geo-Targeting functionality. This will allow you to define locations by country, region, state, city and even customized settings to pinpoint your ads to those customers in that defined area.

Use negative keywords and negative sites. Try running a Search Query report in AdWords and you will quickly discover that visitors are finding your ads with keywords you never dreamed were possible. When you’ve finished with that, move on to a Placement Performance report and find all of the sites that are sending visitors from the Content Network. Both of these reports and the information that they provide are some of the most valuable PPC tools at your disposal.

Bid on the most relevant keywords for your product or service and approach general keywords with caution. Much like gearing up for conversions, this approach will ensure that your ads are targeted. Another approach you can take is to utilize exact match (or standard match in YSM) which will limit clicks to those searching specifically for your product or service.

To be perfectly honest, I could write for days on end about each of these three PPC problems (and have already done so in some cases!). These tips are intended to be quick fix references for your day to day PPC management. I hope they help you out as much as they help me! Check back in on Friday when Joe will be discussing the quick fixes to other common PPC problems such as low click-through-rate, low traffic and low ad position!"

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for full story and more great advice from PPCHero

Guranteed Top Listings on Yahoo!, Google, and MSN Search from PriceForSure: Great deal!

I thought this was a nice offer from etaildtail's friend over at PriceFor$ure.com; it shows how services for online merchants are evolving everyday -- and helps the online merchant save time and money.

And we like that = innovation means better online marketing to the customer = more online shopping.

-- Chip

From PriceFor$ure.com Holiday Special for Online Merchants

"As an Authorized Reseller for Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and their affiliates, we now  provide companies worldwide with top placement in the 1st , 2nd or 3rd sponsored positions, generating the targeted traffic that translates to real, bottom-line results for a fixed rate per month. The fixed placements are guaranteed throughout the whole month or the amount will be refunded. Cost per Phrase varies.

• Guaranteed Sponsored Placement in one of the top three positions:
• Positioning in 1st , 2nd or 3rd Sponsored Placements 24/7
• 12 Month Rate Guarantee
• Month-to-Month Contract - 3 month minimum
• First Right for Placement Renewal
• Custom Descriptions - With the ability to change these
• Unlimited Clicks
• No Need for Costly & Complex Management
• Positioning where the vast majority of Clicks Occur
• Monthly Billing
• Ability to upgrade package at any time
• Exceptional Service - Always.

   

If you're holiday sales are down and you need the extra exposure on the top engines, you don't have to pay a high fee to be at the top indefinitely.

Email us if you are interested in this new service. Call us if you are interested @ 912-667-8757"

SLIDES AND AUDIO Now Available of "Online Marketing Alternatives Webinar for Small to Mid Sized Businesses"

Hello eTaildTail community....I thought the webinar today was full of great information and great examples of some sample marketing campaigns you can execute with as little as $1,500 a month.

If you missed today's MerchantAdvantage webinar on "Alternative Online Marketing Methods for Small to Mid Sized Online Merchants" you can download the slides and audio from the front of MerchantAdvantage's site.

>>>> CLICK HERE and it is FREE! <<<<<<<<<

Over 250 people participated in the webinar, so don't miss out!  Enjoy

--- Chip

Pay-Per-Click Internet Ads: What are they? Why use them? And Keyword Use is “Essential/Mandatory”

I wrote this earlier this year and thought it was worth repeating, as many folks have emailed me about it asked about pay per click ads on shopping comparison sites vs. pay per click leads using comparison shopping engines. -- Ed

Earlier this week on eTaildTail I commented on why “keywords” are critical when using CSEs.  Since then I received a few mails about using “keywords” when creating Internet Ad campaigns, so today let’s cover this area.

The most important thing to know about “Pay-Per-Click Internet Ads” is they can be very effective if you know what you are doing and how they work.

What are Pay-Per-Click Internet Ads?

Pay-Per-Click Internet Ads are what Google (Ad Words (you put out)/Ad Sense (you put on your site) pioneered, or least took to a whole new level!  Yahoo! (Yahoo Advertising), Microsoft (Ad Center) and others also do this very well – yes, there a lot of them out there and consolidators as Local.com, who will syndicate your ad words, exist, but for this blog let’s keep it simple.

Pay-Per-Click, for this entry, are simply small pieces of text (and Google is now beta testing video applications) that allow any company to advertise their company and products on the search engines and on websites, when those website decide to participate in programs that place ads on their sites.  Most look like this:

Designer Clothing Store
50-75% OFF on VERSACE D&G PRADA ARMANI Latest 2007 Collection!

Most Versatile Crew Truck
Get Free Info on Most Versatile Crew Truck. Review, Ratings & Prices.

These “snippets” show up on the search engines when a company participates in “paid” advertising programs on search engines and they ALSO show up on various other sites when these sites decide to act as an “agent”.  In the latter scenario, search engines place these ads on other sites using algorithms.  They take this a step further by trying to place the “right” type of ad on other sites that have something to do with ad. For instance, an ad about “services for landscaping” would appear on sites that have something to do with gardening, home care, and providing equipment for landscaping purposes and probably would not appear on a website selling baby care products.  This “intuitive” ad placement is all handled by the search engine.

The goal is to try and reach customers that are searching for a related product or service on one site to then click on your ad because they are interested.

Do these Ads Work?

We all know that Google, MSN and Yahoo! are all billion dollar companies and lots of their revenue come from these type of ads, so let’s just assume they work. Also, as reported by /Price Water House/Interactive Advertising Bureau online ad revenus for 2006 was $16.9 bn -- something is working -- with 62% of that amount attributed to keyword search and "display" advertising I outline below.

A company can benefit from these ad campaigns primarily because they can be relatively inexpensive and lead to excellent leads.  Let me show why these campaigns can be inexpensive.

Doing a simple cost/benefit analysis:

A. Pay $50 per month using a Pay-Per-Click Google ad campaign
B. You pay $.25 per click
C. 10 leads click on the ad lead and come to your site in one month
D. Those leads cost you $2.50
C. 2 of those leads translate to sales/clients
D. Acquisition cost of the client is $1.25
E. You have $47.50 left in your Pay-Per-Click Ad campaign for future clicks.

This is great if you provide landscaping services for $25 an hour or sell products that are more than $5.00 because:

1. You have made a sale = paid for ad campaign
2. You have a new client = ongoing revenue
3. You can market other products to that new client forever = upsell possibilities
4. Branding.

So why wouldn’t you do this? 

People often site these reasons: Click fraud, to get my company listed higher in Google is too expensive, this is too high a price to pay to acquire a client, my product margins are small and these clicks don’t lead to significant sales, and other methods of advertising work better for my company (newspaper adds, radio ads, yellow page adds, local advertising in other tabloids…etc..).

My reaction to this is simply, try it! I have never been a fan of paying a high price to get listed higher on search engines, especially for a small vendor who is often "out bid" by the bigger companies with bigger pockets. I will leave that decision up to all of you if you want to start figuring out how to get listed higher on search engines.  What excites me is the very inexpensive ads that pop up on other people’s sites, which can cost you from $.10 a click to $1.50 a click, pending on products and how you want your ad listed.

Finally, and probably the most important to small to mid-sized businesses is that the cost to see how Pay-Per-Click advertising can work for you is so inexpensive.

It is inexpensive to set up, inexpensive to create ad language, and inexpensive to track to see if it is working for you compared to other forms of advertising.  Oh yeah, and if it does not work and you get no leads you are not locked in – stop the campaign.  How simple is that?

And if the above did not convince you to at least try it here is a quotation from one organization:

“Bandworks, an Oakland rock msic school, pays an average $.25 per click when its ads pop up during a search for “rock music camp.  The school drew 17 visitors to its Web site during one week for a total all in cost of $9.00 and we had 6 sign up.  The best part is that we are able to track those leads and we were able to change our ad campaigns midstream to reflect special pricing and other fun stuff.”

Do the math…Bandworks paid about $.53 for each lead….can you do that anywhere else and be able to change your marketing language instantly and stop marketing campaigns any time?

As for click fraud…well it does happen and it is trackable. You can see if clicks are coming from the same or similar IP addresses too frequently and then the Google, Yahoo! etc…will help you with this issue.

But if you are not big company, I wouldn’t worry about it too much unless you have a next door neighbor who holds some sort of grudge, knows what you do, has a computer, has the time to “ruin you” by just clicking away on your ads!!!

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1.Only one tip! Use Pay-Per-Click Internet Ad Campaigns because:

• they are inexpensive
• easy to set-up
• easy to see if they are working
• easy to reedit marketing ad campaigns in seconds
• let you reach people you can reach no other way,
• no long term contracts, and
• you can stop and start campaigns any time you want without penalities.

Prepared For the Holidays Properly? Last Minute Hints for Online Merchants to Grow Sales

Okay, much of the following information probably has been addressed by each of you, but it is worth noting again as you still have time to ensure that you have least considered some merchandizing tips for the holiday season, which may be helpful to bring in more sales and new loyal customers.

There is no question that shopping online during the holidays has increased and with the advent of mobile commerce it will grow. I am one of those who do not agree with Wall Street analysts and Research companies that online shopping is going to level off by 2010. It will continue to grow as the next generation of young folks “lives and breathes” online and on their cellular devices.  As long as online retailers continue to be innovative to reach them and understand the power of the functionalities of new cellualr devices (as the Iphone ....and others will follow) = online retail will grow. Period. 

But that is 2010 and it is now 2007.  So what can you do right now to make online shoppers’ experiences more robust so they buy more products from you? 

Some of the tips are obvious, others may not be, and I sure you all have ones that I have not thought of, so, at the very least, I hope the following stimulates conversation within your company to make your shopping season the best that it can be!

1. Comprehensive Content for Product Descriptions on Storefront AND Data Feeds to Marketing Channels, Shopping Destination Sites, Comparison Shopping Engines and Affiliate Sites

This seems so obvious yet many online merchants fail to think like “all” consumers and instead list products how they would like them listed, often missing important information that a buyer might want to see before a purchase.

Tip: Every detail is important to list: good pictures, side view pictures of products, product number (especially if it is electronics), manufacturer name, unique product descriptions (descriptions provided by the manufacturer are often boring and if you use them without providing your own “twist” what differentiates you from others selling the same thing?), easy to read and understand shipping costs, all in cost, product review(s), and “hacker safe” site logo(s), to name just a few.

2. SEO, Keyword Buys Should Mirror Your Product Catalog and Be Directed to Proper Landing Pages on Your Storefront

Sounds obvious right? 

It is astonishing how many online merchants spend lots of money on SEO and keywords yet fail to have the “linked reference” that pops up on a search engine or shopping comparison site direct back to the properly optimized and exciting offers on your storefront.  Think of it like walking into a brick and mortar store through the supply room.  Would you be excited to buy a product if that was the entrance? 

Of course, you need to direct the consumer to a landing page with the product they are looking for, but that landing page can have “helpful” ideas for other products, specials, upsell promos, and other exciting marketing language to draw customers deeper into your storefront. 

Tip: For a perfect example of what I am referring to see www.Cooking.com

3. Avoid all “Controllable” System Roadblocks to a Consumer Buying a Product

We are all human and by definition are imperfect, but we can certainly try to eliminate things that would turn off any customer.

Tip: Pretend you are a customer and go through the entire process and all possible options to buy a product from you. 

a. call your 800 number and see what they do, feel how they treat you, listen to what they say on the phone, hear the tone in their voice, and then determine if the person answering that call is presenting your company in the best light, and, most importantly,  do they make it easy for you to take the next step to purchase a prodcut and if you don't want to purchase make you want to come back?

b. Make an online purchase on your storefront, make two, make three = go through the entire process and determine if it is efficient, the shopping cart is efficient and easy to use, the payment process system is easy, there is excellent follow through, polite email or personal follow up, and on time delivery.

c. Know your inventory levels and, if you run out, make sure you have a system in place to guide an excited customer through the proper channels to get them that product "soon" and/or guide them to another “suggested and similar” product and let them know when and if the product will be available.

d. Try new technologies, as online live chat, for excellent customer follow up, product education and the like. AND make sure that these new ideas do not interfere with executing what you are already doing very well, ergo, only adopt new technologies if you have the time, money and resources to execute them well and not leave behind what you are already doing well.

Remember, human beings are imperfect so excellent customer service cultures are not easy to build and they are even easier to destroy.

4. Promotions Might Sound Great But They Can Destroy Margins

This is a hard one as we all want to “give away a freebie”, but these freebies, if not controlled properly, can destroy profits and frankly make your business look cheap, from the marketing side.

Creative solutions, discounted shipping, free shipping, special promotions for purchases over a certain dollar amount, special follow on coupons, and many other things are all great and need to be managed properly.

Tip: There lots of ways to do this, be savvy, think, do your research on how others do it and check out www.LLBean.com -- this is not the only site to look into but they do a nice job of packaging a sale with clicks and links to gift cards, promotions, gift wrapping and the like.

5. MultiChannel..If You Can

Simple.  If you have a brick and mortar location, offer an off line, in-store pick up option online = this brings the customer to you twice!

6. MultiChannel Marketing…IfYou Can

Simple. Use and test more than a few marketing channels, affiliate sites, comparison shopping engines, shopping destination sites, and other areas to market your storefront product catalog.  Try a new type of fun marketing effort called "couparison shopping" over at www.MyCoupons.com -- I kind of like it and it is different = it just may lead to great sales and branding.

If you are confused by what I mean check out www.MerchantAdvantage.com and see what they can do to help guide you, they also have a comprehensive lists of shopping destination sites to test and see which ones may work best for you.

7. Gift Cards….Gift Cards….Gift Cards….Did I say Gift Cards?

They work.  How is that for blunt?

Gift cards work because they are often bought in addition to a purchase, instead of a purchase (by indecisive people like me…LOL) and best of all they are cash upfront in your pocket.

Again see how www.LLBean.com does it for reference purposes. 

Tip: Yes, you have to have a good system in place to manage this promotion and yes, some people redeem gift cards months later, but sometimes they don’t and you still made money.

Oh yeah, always have an expiration date on the card for easier management purposes (some say no…I say yes…you decide what is best for you).  If you do use gift cards let them expire in a 8-12 months – 6 months is too short.

AND FINALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT TWO:

8. Establish Cut Off Dates for Holiday Deliveries

Simple....and make sure that you make it easy to read and the language is clear.  For example:

Last Day to Ship to Arrive Before December 20 is _________
Last Day to Ship to Arrive Before December 21 is _________
Last Day to Ship to Arrive Before December 24 is ___________.....you get the point.

Tip: Place a nice little “box” with this information on the original landing page, the shopping cart page, and the final check out page (prominently on the last two).

9. Be Nice, Follow Up, Be Human, and Love Your Customer

Emails are easy ways to communicate and bond with your customer and professionally cover the following important follow up items:

1. thank you for visiting our site and looking at our products
2. thank you for your order = order confirmation
3. tracking information to follow order
4. delivery confirmation (always a nice touch)
5. exposure and awareness of new product launches, specials, and promotions
6. thank you for being a customer, loyal customer, preferred customer
7. newsletter follow up (if you have one)
8. Other?!?...be creative!

Tip: Never underestimate the power of the 3 P’s to customer follow up in any form of direct electronic or personal direct communication: Polite, Prompt, and Precise!!!

Good luck as you prepare for the holiday shopping season.

Pay Per Click Advertising Advice For Beginners: One Step At A Time...

I was going to write a pithy entry about how to get started to properly and intelligently use "pay per click" advertising.  Once again, I found someone far smarter than me who I think encapsulated a rationale and excellent strategy to incorporate "pay per click" advertising into your online marketing efforts.

Please CLICK HERE for full story, or read below -- Ed

About The Author

Martin Lemieux
Smartads - President
http://www.smartads.info

Affordable web site design & Web Site Marketing Tips
http://www.flyinggelatingames.com

"Pay per click advertising is an on-going and growing arsenal for all entrepreneurs world wide. Whether your have a small business or a large business, buying a search engine placement is definitely the way to go.

Why fight a never ending battle against some of the worlds best webmasters who have years of experience and are deticated to search engine placement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Don't fight the battle, win the battle by utilizing pay per click search engine marketing!

1st Thing 1st: Testing Your Market Place...

If you've never attempted a pay per click campaign, a good idea is to start with a small budget in order to test your market place.

The key is to find what your potential customers are searching for. There's no better place to test that out by going to Google. Google allows you to pay for a small ad off to the right within a small green box.

Huh? If you've never seen these small ads within Google, go to: http://www.google.com

If you type in "web design" in google's search engine, you will no doubt get the regular results on the left, as well as a list of small ads off to the right within small green boxes.

Underneath the small green boxes, you will see a link that says; "Place your ad here". Another route is by going here: http://adwords.google.com

Please do yourself a favor and deticate yourself to a small ad within Google in order to learn the ropes and utilize an inexpensive way to some fabulous research information.

You'll want to determine how much you are willing to pay for 1 month. It could be as low as $20, but I recommend starting out with $50.00 to start your 1st campaign.

Try coming up with an ad that's catchy and to the point!

Ex. Legal Services

Get A FREE Consultation!

Legal Services in Ontario

legalservices.com

After that you need to predetermine the "Key Phrases" you think that your potential clients are typing in Google when it comes to your product or service.

EX. "Legal Services".

When Google asks you to enter your key words or phrases, you might want to try entering something like this....

Legal Services

Lawyers in Ontario

Law Services

Lawyer Services

Lawyer Services in Ontario

Try using as many as you can think of... Google will later show you the most popular key phrases compared to the key phrases that don't work at all.

Please Note: I am using Google's Adwords as an example because of how easy it is to log into your account at any time and check to see how many people have seen your ad and how many people have actually clicked on your ad to visit your site.

Once you've entered your "Key Words & Phrases" now you're going to be asked to enter the maximum amount of money you want to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.

Ex. If someone searches "Legal Services", you enter that you will pay a maximum of 0.07cts per click.

This will give you a pre-qualified potential client for 0.07cts.

Let's move on a little now..

Assuming that your ad is all set up and already on the way. Now you can return to Google, log into your account and see how your "Key Words & Key Phrases" are performing with your campaign.

It might read something like this....

Legal Services -- Ad was viewed 2000 times -- Clicked on 100 times.

Lawyers in Ontario -- Ad was viewed 4560 times -- Clicked on 9 times.

Now you will get a much better understanding at what your potential clients are searching for and what they are actually clicking on.

KEY NOTE: Try to experiment with this as much as possible and as quickly as possible so you can really begin your Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing.

Are you ready???

Now that you have your predetermined key words of phrases you want to use, you can now start looking into pay per click campaigns. Per per click search engines are a little different compared to the Google Adwords because instead of getting a small ad off to the right you are now going to bid on actual search engine placements.

1st thing you want to do is to visit a pay per click search engine. For instance, you might want to visit: www.goto.com or www.lycos.com or any other pay per click search engine online and test your new key words to determine what the top placements are paying for those spots.

Ex. Let's use "Lawyer Services" again, type in that phrase in any ppc search engine and look at the top placements! It should read something like this...

5) Legal Services.com

Our firm is dedicated to helping you win your case each and every time.

Cost: $0.10

The key is to look at the cost. The cost is what "Legal Services.com" was willing to pay for the 5th search engine placement.

And there you go, you now have the basic knowledge to plan out a pay per click campaign. Always remember to lay out how much you are willing to commit to your search engine campaign and keep yourself to it.

I recommend to all my clients to atleast master the Google Adword program. Google's search engine is the #1 hotspot on the internet for potential clients, why not get a slice of the pie!

Good Luck To All!"

Marketing Tools to Selling Online: Use One, Use All, and See Sales Grow!

Many online merchants in the eTaildTail community have asked me about the many marketing tools available to them to market their product catalog, brand, and storefront online.   Below I summarize 6 obvious ones that when used in concert together can be very effective in driving traffic, and hopeful sales, to your website. 

This does not include email marketing,which is a "science" unto itself...and something no one has really mastered!  But if you want a very cool (inexpensive) new rich, media, video email application that has back-end tracking and is very cool, ad works, check out www.FLIMP.net.  Tell them eTaildTail sent you.

I realize that unlimited marketing budgets are a scarcity, LOL, so may I suggest that you draw a pie chart, determine how much mo