Can you guess what I dressed up as for Halloween? I’ll give you a few guesses!
Here is what I look like tonight:
- I am big and daunting, and smart people steer clear
- I went to work today, but when people saw me they couldn’t tell I was working
- I am sometimes called mysterious and ever-changing, like Odo from DS9
- I say “trick or treat” but I usually just give you a trick, and then mug you
- I like candy, but I’d rather take your search budget and retire in Miami
- Lots of SEM’s use me every day, but they’re not sure why
- People get paid to “optimize” campaigns for me, but it rarely helps
- I was meant to show off my client’s ads, but I won’t tell you where
- Microsoft and Yahoo would love to take a bite out of me, but they can’t see around me
- Google’s released a lot of tools to help people figure me out, but it doesn’t help, I’m just too complicated
- I am the reason why a single Google share surpassed $700
Can you guess what I dressed up as?
Microsoft has made some serious strides in an effort to win back confidence in their advertising programs, most notably Microsoft adCenter. In recent months I’ve mentioned that adCenter traffic accounts for a mere 1% of the total traffic across all of my managed pay-per-click campaigns. Whenever news breaks that Microsoft has secured more ad real-estate, it’s cause to celebrate. Their most recent acquisition of a share of Facebook is exciting because this could turn the tide for Gates’ baby. Read more…
Recent mumbling around Google indicate that the initial site-targeted CPC beta test is just about wrapped up. Testers are in the feedback phase, and depending on the overall success of the program, we might see a public release into mainstream Adwords accounts or it might be reinvented and introduced to new advertising beta testers. Here’s what you should know about site-targeted CPC. Read more…
There are seldom any sure things in life, but this one is for certain, Google Adwords Optimizations aren’t worth the e-mail bandwidth they are sent to customers on. One might say, Google has the insider advantage on your campaigns and ad groups, but practical experience says otherwise. For those itching to learn Adwords secrets, you may want to read on. Read more…
From the “now they tell me” file comes a surefire way to exclude your Content Network ads from “Domain Ads,” a.k.a. parked domains. Registrars often monetize parked domains to generate ad revenue, and considering there are a limited number of popular domain registrars, all those pennies and dimes do tend to add up to big bucks. How do you exclude those parked domains? Read more…
The old adage “keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer” has never been truer when it comes to pay-per-click advertising campaigns. Search competition first reared it’s head with SEO, where everyone was scurrying to find the top ad formula that kept changing, and now it’s not all that different with PPC. Your first weapon is knowledge, and we like to keep your arsenal stock piled. Read more…
It’s not uncommon today to see several of the leading hosting companies offer pay-per-click advertising coupons from Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing (Panama), or Microsoft adCenter. Many people ask me for opinion on my preferred hosting companies and the choices may not be so obvious. Advertising credits are merely an incentive, so let’s look at my top choices for hosting companies, and why I recommend different companies to different clients. Read more…
Visitors to sites are often bombarded by information, especially when their clicks come via pay-per-click campaigns. Naturally, if you have to pay for a click to your site, you want to throw a few sales pitches at your visitors to get your money’s worth. Many site owners fall into the same trap though, they lose clicks because their landing pages are not strong enough. What makes a strong landing page? Read more…
Any search marketer will tell you that online marketing is a little like playing with hand grenades. You’re looking to make a big impact, but accuracy isn’t always guaranteed. Understanding point of purchase behavior does a lot to help decipher analytics because not every click through will result in an immediate conversion. Latent clicks are a result of slow converters, and can be a significant thorn in your side. Learn how to turn undecided visitors into ROI quicker. Read more…
Managing more than a few pay-per-click advertising campaigns can be pretty burdensome if you don’t set up automatic report scheduling. I recommend that all advertisers run at least two critical monthly reports from within Adwords: a search query report and a content placement report. Depending on your spend, you may want to schedule these two reports more often, but a few Adwords managers (including myself) have already noticed a little bug in the system. Read more…
