How to Set Up a Solid PPC Campaign - Loading Your Campaign into Adwords

You may not realize it yet, but you've already finished the hard work. Think about it....

• You completed the keyword research
• You created your categories / adgroups
• You wrote your ads

See that? Now it's just a matter of putting the puzzle pieces together. Every tab on your spreadsheet is an adgroup. Each with its own keywords and individual ads. So when you're ready to create your new organized campaign, it's as simple as creating a new adgroup for each tab.

Now, there are pros and cons to keyword match types - broad, exact, and phrase (a post for another day). However, if you are looking to use some or all of the keyword match types, here is a great keyword wrapping tool for you to use.

If you've create a lot of ads per adgroup, I would not use all of the ads right away. You want to do some A/B testing (again, a post for a different day). Try 2-3 at a time and then work others into the rotation based on performance.

Also, do not forget to add your negative keywords if using broad or phrase match.

While the hard work is done, the tedious work is not. Wrapping keywords, copying and pasting ads, and setting bids can be time consuming. The wrapping tool should help, but be prepared for some mind-numbing work as well. But once you are done it should be worth it.

However, you're still not done. The last step is adjusting the settings on your Google Adwords campaign. That's where this post helps...big time.

Pros and Cons of9 Adwords settings.

And as for setting your bids, that will come down to your budget, the size of the campaign, competition levels, etc. However, here is some material to help you with that as well.

7 Strategies for Small Business Adwords Campaigns

Once you digest the material in those posts it's time for launch. That's when the fun begins...analytics. Because when it comes to Search Engine Marketing, it's all about the ROI.

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!

7 Strategies for Small Business Google Adwords Campaigns

If you are a mid to large-sized company that has a healthy budget for your Google Adwords account, you have a lot of freedom within your campaign strategy. You can bid aggressively for high-converting keywords and advertise far and wide.

But what happens when you have an Adwords account for a small mom and pop shop that has a very limited budget? Shouldn’t you get just as much for your advertising dollar as the big guys? The answer is yes, but you’ll need to use a different strategy in order to achieve this.

Imagine that you—a small bakery called Grand-Ma-Ma’s Goodies—have only $5 a day to spend, and you take orders from people within a ten mile radius. And you’re closed on Tuesdays.

Here are 7 things to consider for Grand-Ma-Ma’s Adwords campaign:

1. Use Only Longtail Keywords – Yes, I mean only. ‘Bakery’ and ‘pies’ are great keywords, but they’ll eat up the $5 pretty quickly.

However, if Grand-Ma-Ma is famous for her Cream Cheese Pie (It’s a Philly thing), then use the longtail term “cream cheese pies,” which comes at a cheaper cost per click and is more likely to result in a conversion.

Sure, the term “cream cheese pies” will rarely be searched compared to ‘pies,’ but if you’re only spending $5 a day, and you have enough longtail keywords—peach cobbler pies, banana cream pies, etc—you’ll probably fill your budget out pretty well while attracting highly targeted customers in the process.

2. Get Granular – Segment ad groups down to the finest detail. Cost per click is a serious concern with a small budget campaign. How do you keep costs under control and gain quality clicks? The best way to do this by maximizing your quality score.

If Grand-Ma-Ma sells 10 different kinds of cookies, create 10 different adgroups for cookies. Put the scrapple-related cookies in a scrapple cookie adgroup. Write a scrapple cookie ad and send Web visitors to a scrapple cookie landing page. If there is no page dedicated to scrapple cookies, send it to a page that is the best match, or at least has some scrapple cookie text on it. Better still, create a landing page for scrapple cookies.

This will increase the quality score and allow ads to achieve higher ranks with lower bids since ad rank is based on the bid and the quality score.

3. Match Types and Use of Negative Keywords – With a small campaign, broad match shouldn’t even be considered. If utilized correctly, and with the appropriate negatives, broad match can be used for larger clients, but with a client the size of Grand-Ma-Ma’s, rather focus on other matching options—with few exceptions.

Exact match is a no-brainer, and phrase match can be utilized as well. However, when using phrase match, negatives keywords are essential. You don’t want someone clicking on your ad if they’re searching for ‘free chocolate cheese steak cake.’ Grand-Ma-Ma sells chocolate cheese steak cake, but it sure ain’t free.

4. Choose Ad Running Times Carefully – Grand-Ma-Ma receives orders via her Web site, which forwards them directly to her BlueBerry. She immediately calls the customer to confirm—and hopefully upsell. So she doesn’t want orders coming in at 3am from drunks with a craving for scrapple cookies!

Adjusting running times for ads ensures Grand-Ma-Ma’s ads run when she’s available to respond. Potential late-night customers will be lost, but if the conversion rate is higher during operating hours, then that’s the time to maximize her small budget. So run Grand-Ma-Ma’s ads during store hours only and turn them off on Tuesdays. That’s her day to spend at Rocky’s Boxing Gym.

5. Tighten Your Geographic Parameters – Grand-Ma-Ma doesn’t serve anyone farther than ten miles away, so the radius setting should be ten miles.

Small-budget companies that do accept clients from across the country should not be tempted to run a campaign nationwide at first. If you live in Philadelphia and you convert more clients with face-to-face meetings, spend your budget in areas where you can have face-to-face meetings. Only when you have maximized in that high-converting area should you expand your location to include other areas.

6. Test the Positions of Your Ads – Google allows you to select ad positions. While this isn’t an exact science, it’s worth playing with.

If Grand-Ma-Ma’s new Phillies doughnuts catch on when the Phillies win the World Series (oh wait, they did) and every bakery in America starts making them, the price for this keyword will rise like yeast. Grand-Ma-Ma’s budget will no longer easily accommodate the keyword ‘Phillies doughnut’. But by setting a position preference combined with a low bid, her Phillies doughnut ad will still show up on page one—just less frequently. Keep in mind that even if you have a position preference, you may not ever show if the bid is too low.

7. Bid According to Budget and Data – Get out your calculator, crunch some numbers, and adjust your bids according to positions, ROI, and performance.

You may find a $5.01 bid for ‘glazed soft pretzels’ would work since the conversion rate was 50% and Grand-Ma-Ma made an average of $20 profit per order, but you can’t spend your entire budget on one term and ignore the others. Scrapple cookies, chocolate, and Phillies doughnuts need their fair share of impressions, too. They all convert well and generate profits, and Grand-Ma-Ma shouldn’t depend on one product for her business.

As with most Internet marketing efforts, none of this is set in stone—it should be tested. These are suggestions. If you were to utilize all of them from the start, you could limit traffic too much. Alter them until you maximize your budget and your ROI. If you don’t have enough longtails, you may have to experiment with broader terms, like ‘bakery.’ If you don’t get enough traffic from phrase match and exact match, you may have to test broad match (with negatives).

The goal is to get as much quality traffic as you can with a limited budget and prove that the campaign works. Then, getting Grand-Ma-Ma to increase her small business search engine marketing budget will be as easy as winning the World Series. For the Phillies, at least.

The Pros and Cons of 9 Default Adwords Campaign Settings

When you create a new Adwords campaign, there are a few settings that are automatic. Unless you edit these settings your new campaign will default to these parameters. I am not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, I just feel it's important you are aware of these settings and how they may impact your performance.

I could devote a blog post to each setting itself, but for the purpose of this overview, I am going to list the pros, cons, and some suggestions for each setting.

1. Content Network - Content Match is when Google places your Google ads on web sites related to your keywords. These ads aren't put in front people necessarily searching for your terms, they just happen to be browsing a web site related to your keywords. It's another form of banner or online advertising. You are automatically opted into this network when you first create a keyword campaign.

Pro - The content work can be a boon for some campaigns if it is optimized correctly. It can increase your branding and exposure. If you sell Phillies jerseys and your Google ad is on a web site discussing the World Series Champions, it may bring in some new business.

Con - Your ad is not put in front of someone specifically looking for your product. Therefore Search will have higher Click through rate than Content Match. And while in some cases the content clicks can have a lower cost per click than the search clicks, it can have a lower conversion rate since searchers are "searching" and content clickers may just be browsing.

Suggestion - Test the content network in a separate campaign from your search campaign. This way you can control the budget and the amount you want to spend on content clicks as opposed to search clicks. Also, you can adjust bids and the sites themselves based on the ROI of the campaign.

2. Location - When you create a campaign, the default location is the United States and Canada. Unless you edit this setting that is where your ads will show.

Pro - If you want to sell your products or services to as many people as possible, this can work for you. You can even expand this setting to include other regions maximizing your exposure.

Con - If you are a local business, you do not want to be showing your ads across the the country or border. A local landscaper doesn't want to be advertising to people 5,000 miles away. If you are only doing business in a certain area, you need to adjust this setting to reflect your targeted region.

Suggestion - If you only want to advertise in certain areas, there are a few options Google provides. You can pick your ads to be shown in certain countries, states, cities, metro regions, by radius, or even a custom-drawn map. And if you are unsure about a certain area, create a separate campaign just for that region and test the waters.

3. Ad Scheduling - Google automatically runs your ads 24 hours, seven days a week unless you edit this setting. If you do choose to change this setting, you have the ability to turn days off and on as well as pick certain times of the day to advertise.

Pro - If you want maximum exposure and don't care when you get your traffic, then you can leave this setting alone. Google will show your ads as much as possible (based on your budget, bids, and quality score)

Con - If you have a limited budget or only want to receive paid traffic during times you are available to answer emails or phone calls, you need to change this setting and adjust to your time frame.

Suggestion - Test different days and times to see what gives you the best ROI on your keywords. Or use a web site analytic program to see what time people are most active on your web site.

4. Search Partners - When you set up your campaign, Google will show your ads on Google. However, they will also show your ads on their partner search engines like Ask.com and AOL.

Pro - Your ads will be shown on other search engines increasing your exposure and not just limiting yourself to people who use only Google.

Con - You may only want to spend your budget on Google and not on other search engines. Check out each engine and see where your ads will be shown. If you have an opinion about a specific engine, you have the ability to turn this feature off.

Suggestion - Run reports and see where the bulk of your traffic and conversions are coming from. If the ROI works for the other engines, let them run. If not, stay on Google only.

5. Position Preference - The default for this setting is off. Google will rank your ad based on your bid and quality score. However, if you have a certain ad rank you desire for your ad or keyword, you can turn on position preferences.

Pro - If you find through research that a specific ad or keyword has a strong ROI in a certain position, you can input a position preference. However, Google offers some pricing strategies that can help you with this as well, but that is a topic for another post.

Con - Google doesn't guarantee your position preference and turning this setting on can limit your impressions. Google will do it's best to honor the position preference, but a lot of factors can make that difficult and in some cases limit your performance.

Suggestion - Test it out. Experiment with a certain adgroup, ad, or keyword and monitor the results. Or you can test alternate Google Adwords pricing strategies and see if you can capture that position and your target ROI.

6. Mobile and I Phones - Your ads will be shown on mobile devices. You need to create mobile ads for your adgroups as well. There are different character limitations as opposed to normal Google text ads.

Pro - While mobile ads don't get as much traffic volume, they do tend to have higher conversion rates since people can call you directly with just the press of a button. And of course this is just another format to increase your exposure. In some areas, the competition level is lower as well. Not everyone is aware of this feature.

Con - If your website is not mobile friendly, people may abandon right away. You might be paying for clicks that have a high bounce rate due to your web site. Also, mobile ads may not be a perfect fit for those who have limited budgets or sell industrial type products that need a full blown web site to convert a visitor.

Suggestion - Test some mobile ads and see if they convert into leads or even phone calls. Keeping track of phone calls is always important for any adgroup, but especially important for tracking the performance of mobile ads.

7. Show Ads as Fast As Possible - Do you want Google to show your ads until your budget runs out or do you want Google to pace your ads throughout the day based on your budget. You have that option.

Pro - Showing your ads until your budget is depleted helps make sure that you spend your budget if possible. It also may get your clicks/visitors in a concentrated time frame. And it can be an indicator of a need to improve your campaigns if you do not deplete your daily budget.

Con - Your budget may be depleted before the day is over. How would you know if the afternoon converts better than the morning if your ads only show in the morning due to a limited budget?

Suggestion - To start, pace your ads throughout the day. Then using conversion rate data for different times of the day, you can decide the best time to show your ads. Then schedule accordingly and show your ads as fast as possible withing that time frame.

8. Ad Rotation Optimization- Google can show your ads evenly throughout the day or show the better performing ad based on performance.

Pro - If you are running two or more ads for the same adgroup (which you should for testing purposes) Google will show the stronger performing ad more often. This is valuable data telling you which ads or calls-to-action generate more clicks and allowing you to create stronger ads.

Con - You may feel you have two quality ads that your want to show 50-50. Or you may want to test two ads and get an even data sample. And one major issue is that Google does not count conversion rates when showing ads. Therefore they may show an ad with a high conversion rate less than an ad with a low conversion rate.

Suggestion - Unless you have a specific reason to show ads evenly (like mentioned above), let Google decide which ads to show more often. However, you have to keep a close eye on conversion rates and adjust accordingly.

9. Show Your Quality Score - If you want to see your quality score in your adgroup, you have to add this column.

Pro - Tons. Add this column and know your quality score.

Con - None. Add this column and know your quality score.

Suggestion - Add this column and know your quality score.

Like I said, each of these setting deserve their own blog post, but I think anyone using Google Adwords should explore these features, test them out, and decide which work best for your campaign. There is no standard setting for search engine marketing. Good luck!

More Than 25 Characters in a Google Adwords Ad

Yes, it is true. You can have more than 25 characters in the title of your Google Adwords Ad. I've seen it in action.

Being a Philadelphia Search Engine Marketing Agency, we tend to have clients in the Philadelphia area. Clients who want to advertise locally. So, Philadelphia is going to be used as a prefix and suffix for a lot of keywords 'round these parts. Philadelphia is not a short word. 12 characters to be exact.

Sure, we can use Philly and Phila, but they don't have the same impact. We like to use the full term. So when a client came to us for a piano lesson campaign in Philadelphia, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Why? Because "Philadelphia Piano Lessons" is 26 characters. One over the posted total. So we can't use that in our Awords ad title right? Wrong. See below...


How is This Allowed?

At first I thought this was a mistake. I counted the characters about 500 times. The total always came back as 26. Then I thought it was a glitch. It's not. I've seen it quite a few times and one case it was 30!

After some research, it seems Google is aware of the problem (if you want to call it a problem), but in no rush to fix it. Here is why it happens.

Different letters take up different amounts of space. For example, a W is much wider than an I. Therefore 25 I's would take up less space that 25 W's. So if 26 characters can fit into the space of 25 characters, Google will allow this to happen...if you know how to get it to work.

How Can I Do This?

Dynamic ads are dangerous if used improperly, especially with broad keywords. Negative keywords would be very important to a campaign using broad match keywords and dynamic ads. However, if using dynamic ads with exact match keywords, then you may be able to use this strategy to your advantage.

Depending on the width of the search term, this may work for you. Set up a campaign with the exact match keyword that you think will fit. Try a keyword with 26 characters to start. Next, create an ad that has a dynamic title {KeyWord:Philadelphia Piano Lesson}.

I can't promise it will work. A lot depends on the term and if Google will let you run it the way you want, but definitely experiment and see if you can use this trick to your advantage to improve your click through rate. As you know, you are always one character away from the perfect ad title. Now, maybe you're not.