How to Set Up a Solid PPC Campaign - Writing Targeted Ads

Now that you have all of your keywords well-organized into tight specific categories, it's time to write ads for these terms. Just as you were specific with the categories, you must do the same for your ads.

However, before we start, let's take a sample of terms to use for this exercise. This way things may be a little clearer. So for illustrative purposes, here is a sample list of keywords for the Spider-man category...

spiderman comic
spiderman comics
spiderman comic books
spiderman comic book
spider-man comic
spider-man comics
spider-man comic books
spider-man comic book
spider man comic
spider man comics
spider man comic books
spider man comic book

Now I know what you're thinking. Do I really need the different versions of "Spider-man?" The answer is yes and no. You could get away with one version (check it out at Google Trends), but I am very analytical. I like to see how the different versions perform. One term may be cheaper than the other. One keyword may bring in more leads or clicks. How will you know if you don't try? However, that is a debate for another post as this post is about writing ads. And there was a reason I used the different versions of "spider-man", which I will get to before the post ends.

So using this sample list, let's write an ad. Since Google Adwords is the most popular PPC platform for search engine marketing, we will write Google ads for now. Bing has the same limitations, but keep in mind, Yahoo's ad requirements can vary. However that may be moot soon with the MSN/Yahoo merger.

The limitations of a Google Adwords PPC ad are as follows...

1) The top line (Title) gets 25 characters including spaces.
2) The next two lines (adcopy) gets 35 each
3) The last line (display URL) gets 35 as well.

So we have Spider-man comic book keywords, and since we want to make this a very targeted ad, you want to have the main keyword in the title. This will not only entice clicks from people looking for Spider-man comics, but also help increase your quality score. So let's give this is a shot. We'll start with the title...

Spider-Man Comic Books

22 Characters and it contains the main keywords. So far so good. Now let's try the first line of the adcopy. I tend to favor two separate sentences in the adcopy, so we'll start with that method.

Huge Selection of Spider-Man Comics

Okay still going well. We tell our story in 35 characters. We have a lot of Spider-man comics and we work in the keyword again. Onto the next line...

I like my second line to be a strong call to action. Offer people something they want. Something that will make them come to your web site.

Free Shipping for orders over $25.

You can try other call to actions as well as long as they fit within 35 characters. Things like 10% on Back Issues of Spidey Comics or Free Graphic Novel with $50 Orders. Anything you feel will help increase sales.

One caveat. If you make an offer in your ad, that same offer has to be posted on your web site within two clicks of the landing page. Meaning, if you offer free shipping in your ad, you have to offer free shipping on your website as well. You can't just say "Free Bat Mobile with Every Order" and then not give away a free Bat Mobile.

Now the display URL seems like common sense, but there is a strategy to this as well. For example, which do you think is better.

www.MyComicStore.com

Or

www.MyComicStore.com/Spider-Man

Let people know that you are giving them what they want right away...within a click. A page about spider-man comics. Even though it's a display URL and not the actual real URL, it can help increase quality clicks and your quality score.

Also, with that in mind, send them to the Spidey page on your web site. Match the landing page to the ad, but we'll get to that in a different post.

As for capitalizing each word in the display URL, that is a personal preference. I've tested it both ways and sometimes the small letters do better and sometimes the CAPS do better. It may be something you want to test as well. I personally like it because it stands out a bit more and if you have a URL with multiple words it keeps them from running together. And who knows, maybe people will remember the URL easier, but I have no data on that.

So let's put it all together and see what it looks like...

Spider-Man Comic Books
Huge Selection of Spider-Man Comics
Free Shipping for orders over $25.
www.MyComicStore.com/Spider-Man

Not bad. We have a good targeted title for the ad, which uses the keywords. We tell our story using the keywords. We have a strong call to action. And our URL is even targeted. This should be a decent ad and should help the keyword quality score.

Now, one ad does not a successful campaign make, so you need to experiment. A/B test. You'll want to run ads against each other and see how they perform. Write different variations. Change the call to action. Test the display URL. And getting back to out variations of "spider-man", maybe try something like this...

Spiderman Comic Books
Huge Selection of Spiderman Comics
Free Shipping for orders over $25.
www.MyComicStore.com/Spiderman

Or this...

Spider Man Comic Books
Huge Selection of Spider Man Comics
Free Shipping for orders over $25.
www.MyComicStore.com/Spider_Man

See what I did here? I wrote different ads using the different variations of "spider-man". You may not have to get this granular, but if one of the versions is having a tough time with the quality score, this is an option you can use to boost performance. You may even give the varying keywords their own ad with their own category. It's up to you how granular you want to get.

And as for the two separate sentences in an ad. You may want to combine the lines and write one sentence in 70 characters. I'm not knocking that option, in fact I've had to do it myself on a few occasions (although I prefer the other way). That's why it's important to have different variations of ads. Try it with two sentences, try it with one longer sentence. See which will perform better. There are no set rules, this is just guidance.

So there you have it. Some different ways to write targeted ads for your target keywords. Once you're done writing your ads, web-sling your way back here and we'll discuss landing pages...

By the way if you ever want to look at an advanced method or ad writing, there are, in some cases, an opportunity to have more than 25 characters in the title of a Google Adwords Ad.

How to Set Up a Solid PPC Campaign - Organizing Your PPC Keyword List

In our last post we discussed creating a master PPC keyword list. Now that you have that long list of search terms, it's time to break them down into smaller categories.

There are a few reason you want to break down your keywords into categories...

1) The smaller tighter groupings are easier to manage than a large lump of search terms.

2) This will allow you to write very specific ads for these smaller groupings

3) It also allows you to send traffic to certain pages on your web site.

4) Both 2 & 3 will increase your quality score and reduce costs.

5) It will make life easier when managing and setting bids.

6) In some cases negative keywords may be needed for only certain categories as opposed to an entire campaign

Now that you know why, it's time to get to the how....

Honestly, the choice is yours on the best way to break things down. Using our comic book store as an example, you may want to break down your keywords into character groupings. Spider-Man, Bat-Man, or The Sentry (who?!). Or you can do it by publisher - DC, Marvel, Vertigo (what?!)

The logic is to determine which keywords can have specific ads and specific landing pages. So if I am looking for a Captain America comic and Google that search term, I'd prefer to see an ad that says "Captain America Comics". That would entice me to click on your ad as opposed to an ad that says, "Lots of Comic Books".

On that same note, send me directly to your Captain America page. Don't make me find it. I'll probably leave your web site unless Cap is in my face and if not, you just wasted a $1.32 click charge. Put Wing-Head right in front of me when I click on your Cap ad. You have less than 3 seconds to grab my attention, don't waste that time.

Now you don't have to go crazy. There are well over 500 issues of Captain America. And while you "could" have 500 keywords, you don't need 500 ads or categories. Put all the Cap keywords in one category. "Captain America comics", "Captain America Comic Books", etc. This way when you're ready to write the ads, you only need a handful of ads for Cap. Then a few for the Spidey category and so forth.

And you can apply this logic to a lot of industries. Bakeries - chocolate doughnuts, wedding cakes, apple pies. Sporting Goods - volley balls, tennis rackets, World Champions Phillies Jerseys (that's right!). You get the idea.

Now you can organize this anyway you want, but I find the best way is to do it on an Excel spreadsheet and every tab is a category. So the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing gets a tab, Silver Surfer gets a tab, Green Lantern gets a tab, and so forth. And don't forget a tab for those negative keywords. I can't stress enough how important they are.

The Excel method will also make life easier when you're ready to write ads, but that's a topic for a different post...which is next. See you in the funny papers!

How to Set Up a Solid PPC Campaign - Keyword Research

Whenever I take over the management of a Google Adwords campaign, I see a lot of the same mistakes over and over and over... Just as you build a house on a solid foundation, you need to do the same with your PPC campaigns.

So the next few posts are going to be about the correct way to build a strong Adwords (or Bing) PPC account. Then I'll summarize at the end with a link to each topic. Let's begin the series with...Keyword research.

(For illustrative purposes, we are going to be...an online comic book. Sorry, I'm a comic geek.)

Keyword Research - I know, you've just created your account and you want to jump right in and see yourself on Google. Mistake! Organization is the key and that starts with keyword research.

You can start by using the free keyword tool that comes with your new account. Just click on the "Tools" tab where Google lists some of it's very cool and free tools. You want the "Keyword Suggestion" tool for this exercise.

Start using the tool with a broad term like..."comic books". The tool will produce a list of keyword phrases associated with your main term. "Comic book", "online comic book store", "free comic books", etc.

Wait, did I just say free comic books? Yes, I did. On purpose. Just because there are popular search terms related to your services and products doesn't mean you want to be found for all of them.

Free is a great example of this kind of term. If you blindly bid on the keyword "comic books" and someone types in "free comic books", your ad will show up and therefore potentially get an unwanted click. An unwanted click you pay for.

So this is why keyword research is so important. While you're making a list of all the keywords you do want to be found for, I highly suggest you make a list of keywords you don't want to be found for. Free is a good one to start with.

Moving on, once you compile a list of keywords for "comic books", try other terms like "Superman comics" or "graphic novels" or even "DC comic books". By the time your done (and do take the extra time for this) you should have a pretty sizable list. At least for this industry.

Now be careful here. Some keywords will be great for your list: "online comic books stores". While others may be bad: "comic book artists". However, some may fall in the middle: "Japanese comic books".

Do you sell Japanese comics? If you do, do you have enough selection to make it worth paying for traffic from this term. Should it be a negative keyword? Should you bid really low for just a trickle of traffic? You're going to have to take some terms into consideration as you compile your list.

Then there is the broadest of broad terms: "comic books". If you're a comic book store, you may think it's silly to not include a core term like "comic books" in your campaign, but hear me out. If you have a small budget PPC campaign, what term would you rather have traffic from, "online comic book stores" or "comic books"?

A more specific term has a higher chance to lead to a sale, so you don't want a broad term that generates a lot of clicks eating up your budget before you can be found for the specific terms.

Also, without the proper negative ketywords in place (if using broad or phrase match), a broad term like "comic books" can bring in unwanted clicks. Remember our free example? What if there are a few other terms you missed like "costumes", "writers", or "Dazzler" (who reads Dazzler comics?!). You'd not only be using up your budget fairly quickly on a broad term, but some of those clicks would be from terms you'd prefer not to pay for. So your squandering opportunity for some looking to "buy comic books online."

Not that you can't include a broad term if it's appropriate, but just be careful with those types of keywords. Keep them in separate campaigns or adgroups where you can control the budget and the bid. Determine if the ROI works then adjust accordingly. Remember, it's not about the quantity of traffic, it's about the quality.

Now back to the topic at hand. Once you've completed your list of targeted keywords (and negatives) it's time to break it down, which leads us to...organizing your keyword list.

See you next post, same SEM time, Same SEM channel (Classic Batman, Chum)

Yahoo Keyword Matching

I know a lot of people whose PPC campaigns have a lot of success on Google Adwords, but when they transfer them over to Yahoo, the performance on Yahoo is...less than expected (to be kind).

When you implement a Yahoo PPC campaign, you may receive a lot of clicks, but no leads or sales. There are lot of reasons for this, but too many to list in one blog post, so let's stick to the keyword issues for now. First, let's talk about negative keywords.

Negative Keywords. If you sell Cream Cheese on line (can you tell I'm a Philadelphia Search Engine Marketer?), there's a good chance you are bidding on the term "Cream Cheese". So if someone types in "good cream cheese" you want to show up. That works.

However, what if someone types in "free cream cheese"? Guess what, your Yahoo PPC campaign will show you for that term. Why? Because Yahoo feels that your keywords match that term. Just what you don't want. So, how do you avoid this? Negative keywords. Add the word "free" as a negative keyword so this doesn't happen.

You need to check your analytic logs and reports to see what terms you are paying for and eliminate the "fat" (cream cheese pun!). You shouldn't be doing this for just Yahoo, but all of your PPC campaigns. Google, Bing, etc.

However, while that will help, there is another issue when it comes to Yahoo...

Yahoo Advanced Keyword Matching. When you first create a Yahoo adgroup, the default keyword matching option is "advanced". Advanced means they will match your keywords to any phrases Yahoo thinks matches a phrase a user may use. Since Yahoo's goal is to increase your clicks and your goal is to increase quality clicks, something tells me that you and Yahoo may not agree on all these terms.

That is why you have to change your settings to "Standard" keyword matching. It won't solve all of your problems (you still need to use negative keywords), but it will help. Check your Yahoo adgroup settings and if you are getting a lot of clicks with no result, you may be set on advanced keyword matching. It should be the first thing to check. Then start looking for negative keywords to eliminate further unwanted clicks.

Even despite these efforts, Yahoo campaigns still may struggle for other reasons, but more on that in a different post. However, I do have clients who run tight, efficient campaigns on Yahoo and they do work. But like your Adwords campaigns, you really have to watch and optimize them on a daily basis.

Good luck with your search engine marketing efforts and if your Google Adwords campaign is running well and you want to expand, you can always transfer your Google campaigns to Bing as well.