Posts Tagged ‘Pay per Click Marketing’

Improving Google AdWords ROI – Tip #2 – Search Query Reports

Marketing Practicality | January 23, 2010 in Pay per Click Marketing | Comments (1)

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Search Query Reports and Google AdWords

Google AdWords includes some powerful tools to improve your campaign ROI, but many people rarely, if ever, take advantage of these free and readily available options. If you are new to pay per click marketing – why not take a moment to review our AdWords Tutorial.

Search Query Reports are great for finding the keyword search terms people are actually using to find and click on your AdWords ad.  We’ll cover how to run the report and what the practical applications are in improving Google AdWords ROI.

Using Search Query Reports in Google AdWords

You can run this report through your reports section – which allows you to set up a recurring report and have it emailed directly to you (once you set up the parameters).  But Google makes it even easier for you to access this information within your Google AdWords account.

First go to your Campaigns and then select the Keywords tab.  Next click on the “See Search Terms” menu and select “All”.

Search Query Reports

Search Query Reports

After that, your report will appear and look like this:

AdWords Search Query Reports

AdWords Search Query Reports

Improving Google AdWords ROI

So what does this information mean for your Google AdWords campaign?  Sure it’s a neat report and easy to use, but how is this information practically applied to increasing revenue and reducing costs?

Here’s how:
This report is showing actual search terms that lead to a click on an ad in your Google AdWords campaign.  When you review the report you will see that the actual clicks may or may not have matched up with the keyword you selected in your AdWords campaign – especially if you are using broad match.  There are many things you can do with this information, but here are a couple tips to improve your AdWords profitability:

Search Query Reports and Negative Keywords

As you review the report – do you see any search terms that don’t make sense? Are you attracting unqualified visitors (and paying for them) only to have them bounce off your landing page once they get there?  Review the search terms and identify those that just aren’t good matches – then identify the word or words that may have triggered the unqualified click, and add that term as a negative keyword to your campaign.  This reduces cost – which improves ROI.

Search Query Reports and Match Types

Now review your report to identify search terms which appear highly relevant (resulting in a  high quality click) – these are the type of visitors you want more of. If it’s a keyword you haven’t used add it to your campaign using the various Google AdWords Keyword Match Types.
Now you are accessing real click through data to develop your AdWords Keywords – which is better than any online tool in my opinion.

Search Query Reports and Improving Google AdWords ROI

Hopefully this gives you an idea of how search query reports can be an effective tool for improving Google AdWords ROI. Let me know if you tried this and how it has worked for your AdWords campaign!  For more tips and advice – contact Marketing Practicality.

To see the first tip in this series visit Improving Google AdWords ROI – Tip #1.

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Successful Internet Marketing for Small Business

Marketing Practicality | December 13, 2009 in Small Business Marketing | Comments (1)

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Think of Successful Small Business Marketing as a Three Legged Stool

If you do these three things effectively, your small business internet marketing efforts will be successful.

  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  2. Pay per Click Marketing (PPC, Google AdWords)
  3. CRM Marketing

I have the privilege of working with many small business owners across several industries.  And rarely do I come across a company that is doing all three of these “legs” effectively.  More often, a small business does one or two of them, and provides explanations as to why they don’t do the others.

Granted, each of these items are entire industries, so all the details can’t possibly be captured in one article.  But the basic premise applies.

If you have a website for your business, and your website generates leads, then this is for you.

internet marketing

Search Engine Optimization – SEO

SEO gives your website visibility in search engines.  And search engines, Google in particular, are the yellow pages of 20 years ago.  It is where potential consumers start to find a product or service.

Do not spend $10,000 developing a great looking website without giving serious consideration to SEO – I’ve seen this too often.

Essentially, SEO is the process of increasing your rankings in search engines for targeted keywords.  Keywords you have strategically selected to generate qualified traffic and ultimately sales from your website.

The upside – SEO has momentum.  Once your website starts ranking and gaining authority, it is easier to rank for other terms, more people link to your site, and it continues.

The downside – SEO is not a quick process.  It is not a magic bullet or “get rich quick” scheme.  It is, frankly, a lot of work.  So don’t expect overnight results from SEO.  Consider it a long term strategy.

Google AdWords and Pay per Click Marketing – PPC

Pay per Click Marketing, commonly called PPC, however can produce results overnight.

Google AdWords is the most common platform for PPC marketing.  You can set up a Google AdWords account in a day and start generating clicks.  With Google AdWords, you can appear on the “first page” of Google in a day.  This can be a powerful tool.

The upside - PPC Marketing is quick and targeted.  The major search engines offer robust PPC marketing tools to help you better target your campaigns, improve response and save money.

The downside – The cost.  These placements do not come free.  You set a daily budget and your ads will be served as long as the daily budget allows.

CRM Marketing

CRM Marketing ties in your marketing efforts to your sales efforts – and your sales results.  So you can identify not only which advertising mediums are producing the most leads (and what that costs you) but you also see which leads are producing the most sales – now you can track ROI and truly optimize your marketing mix.

The upside – CRM systems can be incredibly powerful tools for your small business marketing efforts.  Not only do they integrate marketing and sales – but most integrate customer service and several can tie in to your ERP or financial software.  It all depends on your needs.

The downside – I suppose one could say the cost, but I believe CRM systems more than pay for themselves if used properly.  The biggest downside I’ve encountered is people.  More specifically, getting people to buy in to a new way of doing things and getting the most out of these incredibly powerful tools.

Successful Small Business Internet Marketing

The trick is finding the time and resources to make sure all legs of the “stool” are done well.  Otherwise the stool gets a bit wobbly, or worse, it falls down.

But having witnessed many companies and how their internal marketing operates – the businesses that effectively use seo, pay per click marketing and crm marketing have successful small business internet marketing programs.

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Improving Google AdWords ROI – Tip #1 – Dynamic Keyword Insertion

Marketing Practicality | December 4, 2009 in Pay per Click Marketing | Comments (0)

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Dynamic Keyword Insertion for Google AdWords

In most cases, using dynamic keyword insertion will improve your Google AdWords click through rate.  And if your text ad creative, landing page, offer, etc. is well constructed and thought out – your AdWords ROI improve.

If you are not using dynamic keywords I strongly recommend you test them for your business’ Google AdWords campaign.

What is Dynamic Keyword Insertion?

Dynamic keywords show the specific search term in your ad, providing it meets certain criteria.

For example, you have an ad in Google AdWords with a title like this:

“Buy Widgets”

Depending on your keyword match type, bid amount, geo targeting, etc. your ad would show if the searcher typed in “widgets”.

But what if you have many different widgets?  How do you target that?

Well, there are ways to do this within Google AdWords – but dynamic keyword insertion allows you to cover the various related search terms in your ads – and show those terms in bold face type – making your ad immediately appear more relevant and ideally suited for what the individual is searching for.

How To Create Dynamic Keyword Insertion

It’s simple, and can be used anywhere within the displayed text of your ad.

Instead of writing “widget” put {Keyword:Widgets} in it’s place.  The default word will be widgets, but if the search term meets Google AdWords parameters, the targeted search term will be shown.

And that sort of relevancy improves click through rates.

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