Archive for the ‘Adwords’ Category
Online Marketing Teams Falling Behind on Keywords
photo credit: esocialmediashop
Software company Hydra revealed this week that more than half of all businesses involved in online marketing believe they are staying up to date with keywords.
A poll carried out by the company found that only 42 per cent of internet marketing respondents thought they were “on trend” when it came to keywords, as opposed to 55 per cent who felt they were lagging behind.
The problem for many is that they are failing in their keyword research – the practice of finding out which words and expressions are being widely used among their target demographic. Effective keyword research leads to effective online marketing, as only the keywords most likely to drive traffic and sales are invested in.
There are difficulties for many internet marketing teams because their limited resources prevent them from carrying out comprehensive and ongoing research. The best way forward is to initially find out which search terms lead customers to their sector and then use keyword-page mapping to uncover the relationships between certain words and the products and services being offered.
Online Marketing Gets a Boost From Better Site Searches
photo credit: stoneysteiner
Online marketing professionals should take note of recent guidance on how to optimise a business’s on-site search and navigation to drive up sales and increase customer satisfaction – pointing out that there are various ways that retailers can improve this.
Fact-Finder head of UK operations Mathias Duda said that improved search and navigation on websites “can drive sales through personalised merchandising, increase a user’s experience of a brand and help retailers get a better understanding of their customers and how they behave on their website” – adding that too many retailers neglect site optimisation as part of their online marketing strategy.
One major improvement that can be made is changing the search function so that it understands misspellings and synonyms – up to 40 per cent of queries are spelt differently to actual product names, so this would clearly increase sales.
A general point also worth considering is that improved knowledge of what customers are seeking on a site will in turn improve online marketing by improving the efficiency of AdWords and SEO choices.
Google Makes Ad Sitelinks Available for Smartphones
Search engine giant Google announced this week that it has launched a version of its Ad Sitelinks feature suitable for mobile devices such as iPads and smartphones.
The feature enables brands to provide many different landing page options with their online advertising.
The desktop version of the online marketing tool was first made available in November 2009, and since then has increased the clickthrough rates of advertisers by more than 30 per cent.
Now this feature is available for mobile devices – writing on the official Google AdWords blog, the company’s associate product marketing manager Gordon Zhu said that Ad Sitelinks was now available across the world for all pay per click online marketing campaigns using high-end mobile devices.
Currently, one or two-line Sitelinks will appear on these devices, each with the ability to direct customers to different areas of the brand’s website.
“Because websites may not yet be optimized for viewing on mobile devices, navigating them to find information can be more difficult,” Mr Zhu said.
“Mobile Ad Sitelinks help by taking users directly to the specific content they’re looking for, enabling them to find information and complete transactions more quickly.”
Google revealed recently that higher revenues from its online advertising on partner websites and increasing numbers of aggregate paid clicks had helped it boost its third quarter profits by 32 per cent.
Google’s net income stood at a hefty $2.17 billion between July and September this year, up from $1.64 billion during the same period in 2009.
Revenue from pay per click services for Google sites and AdSense partners rose by 16 per cent year-on-year and was four per cent higher compared with the second quarter.
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt commented: “Our core business grew very well and our newer businesses – particularly display and mobile – continued to show significant momentum.”
Google Adwords Campaigns being Specific is Important
Over the past few months it has been brought to our attention from several existing AdWords customers how people can sometimes be guilty of wearing blinkers when it comes to the setup and running of there campaigns. The use of a main generic keyword is fine and it will always be the case that these keywords will generate the vast majority of traffic for your campaigns. This doesn’t mean that more specific searches and product keywords should be discounted due to there lower volumes.
What is important when running your adwords campaigns is to think more about the cost per conversion. Time and time again on campaigns over several different industries the main generic keywords due to there competition from other advertisers always have a higher cost per conversion than a more longer tail phrase or specific product keyword. It is logical the more generic the keyword the higher the chance of a conversion the more specific the better.
Say for example we are targeting the keyword of flowers. A user comes along who wants purple flowers but you only have red flowers for sale. Right away there is a wasted click now I know this is a very simplistic example but this can be applied to any industry online with many varients.
Now there will always be an element of the balancing act and we are by no means suggesting ditching your favoured high traffic generating terms but adding to the campaign with a selection of more specific keywords linked to specific items will cost a lot less per conversion. This is where conversion tracking is important and where having an online shop and google adwords professional can be so helpful.
So how does conversion tracking work ? Well put simply a piece of tracking code is placed on the checkout page of the online shop or perhaps the thanks for your enquiry form. This way we can determine exactly the cost per conversion of a keyword. This way we can know for a fact “generic keyword 1″ costs for example £20 per conversion and “specific keyword 1″ costs £15 per conversion and you can see for a fact how generic and specific keywords work in generating conversions.
Right now a competitor will be using a range of specific keywords and generating sales in your industry for a lot less than you are having to pay for your main generic keyword. Now Specific terms will probably not reach the heights of the generic term with volume but if you could get a sale on your site for less money it makes logical sense and it would be complete madness not to embrace specific and longer tail keywords on your google AdWords campaigns.
Don’t be left behind with your AdWords campaigns the amount of money you could save over a 12 month period could run into thousands depending on your budget. The savings of 10 to 20% are not uncommon from the use of conversion tracking on an AdWords campaign. We have experienced this first hand and have the statistics to prove it.
Conversion Tracking In Google Adwords
One of the first things we setup when setting up or taking over a google AdWords cpc campaign is conversion tracking. If you operate a e commerce site then conversion tracking is a must if you are going get the best out of your AdWords budget. I am going to give you a few examples from two different AdWords campaigns.
The first campaign was already setup and we ran into the same old problem where keywords were packed into irrelevant ad groups and had very poor quality scores. Now quality scores and CT R’s (Click through rates) are one thing but conversions can in some cases throw these out of the window. You could have one of the best performing keywords and ad groups but if after a period of 3 months the cost per conversion is poor and leaving you with no return on investment then don’t be afraid of pausing it.
If you don’t have conversion tracking installed it is like tying one hand behind your back from the start. If you are unsure of how conversion tracking is installed consider getting in touch with reputable Internet marketing experts. This way it can be installed correctly and they can pay for themselves with the savings generated.
The second campaign was a complete new setup so ad groups were setup correctly the ads were written to generate good Click Through Ratios. Conversion Tracking helped us establish an average cost per conversion and we could adjust ad groups and bidding accordingly. In terms of percentages the savings conversion tracking has made is at 30%
If you consider this over a month or years spend on AdWords its easy to see the benefits. It could stack up to literally thousands of pounds in savings.
Ok lets say you don’t have an e commerce site conversion tracking can still be setup to track emails, sign ups or any other specific goals you may have via your website make setting up conversion tracking a priority for your AdWords success.
Google Adwords on Fixed Fee Beware !
Over the past few months it has been brought to our attention an increasing number of marketing companies selling google adwords cpc on a fixed fee for 1st page positions. Following a constant flow of companies and after speaking to a number of sales men at these companies I felt it was our duty to try and inform the Uk business community the full ins and outs of this concept.
Put simply companies or agencies no matter how large cannot get google adwords at a lower fee than yourselves. If you were to open a google account tomorrow the same prices would apply. So I would like to put to bed this statement that companies can somehow receive a wholesale batch fee on fixed adwords placements it is simply not true.
I decided to get this 100% confirmed by my contact at Google Ireland and it was ” You cannot purchase adwords on a fixed fee on the first page of google” and “these companies are lieing” it was explained. So how exactly does it work and why are these companies selling adwords in this way.
Well to start with doesn’t it sound great you can be listed on google for a set fee for a choice of a few phrases ! If it was true we would be the first people doing it. But when you look into it the cracks begin to appear firstly the keyword or phrases that you choose are they going to be generic well used keywords I think not. The use of regional and long tail keywords that will give you a first page listing but wont deliver a massive amount of traffic is the way these companies operate.
Put simply these companies need to make money somehow I cannot speak for the way in which these companies use there funds received but the funds will not be used 100% on your google ads. Which is why being 100% transparent and knowing exactly where your spend is going is so important if you are considering google AdWords as a means of advertising for your company.
If you have experienced any problems with similar fixed fee google adwords offers please post your experiences below.
Online Casino Adwords
Online Casinos Can now use Adwords.
Since the advent of google AdWords for online casinos there was the initial clamour to get listed. Online Casinos are now paying anywhere of up to £20 – £30 per click plus spending a minimum of at least £10k per month advertising on the search engine. At Online Media Direct we specialise in the management of these online casino AdWords campaigns and with our direct contact with Google headquarters in Ireland we get you setup as soon as possible.
What do we need to do adwords for our Online Casino ?
First things first and the most important is a good budget it is not worth punting a couple of thousand here or there. We need a serious commitment from you if we are going to have any chance of breaking into the current market, competition is fierce and for us to compete with bids and daily budgets we ask for at least £10 – £20 k for a first month trial. Our Google AdWords professional will setup and target your AdWords campaign as specifically and professionally as possible and not stone will be left unturned in helping to give your ads the best possible quality score to compete with your competition.
Our experience with AdWords includes many different industries including casinos, finance, mortgages and loans so we are used to dealing with big budgets . Our largest campaign totalled a quarter of a million pounds so our experience at this level is invaluable.
We setup Google analytics and the important conversion tracking for all online casino adwords campaigns as standard. Full access is available with all of our adwords campaigns plus you can even use an existing account and we can link you up to our professional account so you will know exactly what you are paying for your clicks with your companies click spend.
Our services to setup and to complete ongoing management and analysis of the campaigns are charged at a very low percentage rate our reason for the low rate is we understand any charges will detract from any potential conversions at your end and we want to gain long term successful customers using the clever online casino adwords campaigns.
Please note it is important that you have a registered gambling license and number to complete the application. Along with a prominent link to gamblingaware.co.uk or gamcare.org
To book a Free online casino adwords consultation with our clever internet marketing experts simply call our sales team on – 0800 689 9968 or email info@onlinemediadirect.co.uk
