Post on 10-Apr-2015
description
An Introduc+on to Pay Per Click Adver+sing
Richard Fergie
What is PPC Adver+sing?
• Adver+sing where you pay each +me a user clicks on your advert
• Adverts appear on the Google search results page:
Why PPC Adver+sing?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Paid Placement
Organic SEO
Email Marke+ng
Conferences
PR
Affiliate Marke+ng
Direct Mail
Contextual Text Ad
Web Graphical Ad
Print Magazine Ad
TV Ad
Paid Inclusion
Search KW Graphical Ad
Rich Medium
Telemarke+ng
Print News Ad
Print Yellow Page
Radio
POS Promo+on
Paid Lis+ng in Shop directory
Online Yellow Pages
Coupons
Other
"What are the top‐three most‐efficient forms of adver5sing or marke5ng you spend money on in terms of the return on investment (ROI) or return
on ad spend (ROAS) that they yield?“
So why does PPC perform beYer than offline adver+sing and other online channels?:
1. The adverts can be targeted only towards users who are interested in your service or product.
2. Only 18% of people can iden+fy which results on Google are paid ads and which are organic lis+ngs:
This means that people are not “Banner Blind” to PPC adverts unlike other forms of online
adver+sing.
Auc+ons & Targe+ng
• All the major search engines require adver+sers to “bid” on “keywords”
• Simply speaking a keyword is a word or phrase that you want your adverts to appear on.
• The bid is the maximum amount that you are willing to pay for one click on your advert
• Deciding if your ad shows and how high up the page it appears is done using a modified version of a Vickrey auc+on.
• This type of auc+on is similar to an eBay auc+on.
A Very Simple Example Suppose you run a business that sell “widgets.” You already have a website and you’re interested in geeng some customers using this new fangled “AdWords” thing.
Since you sell widgets you bid on the keyword widgets
... A few weeks later ... The sta+s+cs for the account look like this:
Clicks Impressions CTR (%) Cost Average CPC
234 1,123,569 0.02% £280.80 £1.20
Number of +mes the advert has been clicked Number of +mes
the advert has been seen
Click divided by impressions.
Total amount spent so far
Average amount spent on each click
On its own this is not useful informa5on!
What Informa+on is Useful?
There is only 1 ques+on that maYers:
How much money have I made by using PPC?
This is a simple concept to state but ojen it is harder to measure
Business to Customer • Average order value • Life+me Customer value • Return on Investment (ROI) • Profit
Tracking is complicated if customers can convert through other online channels or offline
Business to Business • Lead Genera+on • White Paper downloads • Brochure downloads • ROI
Lead Genera+on is the most important and also the most likely to be concluded offline
Conversion Tracking AdWords Conversion Tracking • Put a simple piece of javascript on the “conversion page” • Good for campaigns where all conversions are equal • Each visitor can only convert once • Simplest to setup and manage
Google Analy5cs Goal Tracking • Slightly more advanced than AdWords conversion tracking • Can track up to 4 different “goals” per profile • Each goal can be assigned a monetary value • Can also track non PPC traffic
Google Analy5cs Ecommerce Tracking • Can track the value of individual orders • Also provides informa+on on the number of visits and length of +me before a purchase is made • Can track non PPC traffic • The hardest to setup, but also the most powerful
Back to Widgets... Now we’ll assume that our widget salesman now has a good tracking solu+on on his website.
There are two things that can happen when he next looks at his stats:
1. Everything is great. How do I get more?
2. I am not making money with PPC Ads
Next Steps 1. Change the budget 2. Change the average CPC 3. Try and increase the conversion rate or the average value per
visit 4. Diversify the keyword list
1. Budget Changes If you are making money with PPC then you should increase your
spend un+l the ROI begins to fall. If you are not making money with PPC you should reduce your
budget un+l you have made changes to your campaign that give you a posi+ve ROI
2. Reducing the Average CPC There are two main approaches here. One is very simple. One is more complicated and not completely understood. 1. Decrease the maximum CPC bid • Easy to do and easy to understand • For some keywords reducing the
bid will mean your ad will never be shown
2. Improve your Quality Score • Quality score is Google’s way of safeguarding their income from AdWords. If people
click on adverts that are not relevant to their search query then they will eventually develop “banner blindness” and will not click on AdWords ads in the future.
• In the AdWords auc+on your “bid” is actually the maximum CPC bid mul+plied by the quality score. This means that high quality scores pay less!
• The main factors that influence the quality score on a given search are: 1. The keyword/search query 2. The ad text 3. The landing page 4. The click though rate
3. Improving Conversion Rates A higher conversion rate or a higher value per customer means that you can afford to pay more for each click or make more profit for the same CPC.
There are 3 things you can do to increase your value per click:
Select the right keywords • I’ll talk about keyword
selec+on next. Hope you can contain your excitement un+l then
Change your ad text • Ads with a clear call to ac0on work beYer • Link your ad as closely as possible to the keyword or to the searchers intent • Test, test, test, test, test. Google make it easy for you to do this. • Test.
Change your landing page • Send clicks to the most relevant page on your site • This will also improve your quality score • Use Google Website Op+miser to find out which landing pages work best • These changes can also help with non PPC visits
4. Keyword Selec+on • Bidding only on widgets is not enough • Compe++on on this keyword may be too high • You end up missing out on what could be valuable traffic • Use the Google Keyword Tool for ideas.
• Blue widgets • Red widgets • Black widgets • Cheap widgets • Widgets in Oxford • Widgets sale • Widgets online • Find widgets • Widgets.com • UK widgets • Value widgets • Widget website • Best Widgets
• New widgets • Widget shop • Latest widgets • Discount widgets • Premium widgets • Widget solu+ons • Widget help • Widget for kids • Widget deals • Custom widgets • Widget reviews • Help with widget • Free delivery widget
• Widget quote • Simple widget • Widget photos • Widget news • Bargain widgets • Widgets today • Widget shop • www.widgets.co.uk • Widget coupons • Last years widget • Valen+ne’s widget • Healthy widget • Red or brown widget shop near North Oxford
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50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Sales
Sales Per Keyword
The Long Tail
Different Match Types Exact Match • Will only display your ads if the search query is exactly the same as the keyword. • Normally denoted by square brackets: [red widgets] • The above example would match the query red widgets but not cheap red widgets
Phrase Match • Will display your ads if the query contains your keyword. • Normally denoted using quota+on marks: “red widgets” • This will match the query cheap red widgets but not the query red cheap widgets
Broad Match • Used to be that the search query would contain the keyword word in any order • Now it is far more powerful than that • And far more dangerous
Account Structure • A properly structured account is important for the efficient management of a large number of keywords. • Even for a small account it will help show the most appropriate ad to the searchers. • There are 3 main levels in the account structure
Campaign • Can set daily budgets • Loca+on Targe+ng • Platorm Targe+ng • Contains Ad Groups Ad Group
• Can set CPC bids • Contains keywords and ads • Make sure keywords and ads are linked as closely as possible
Keywords and Adverts • The boYom level of your account • Can set landing pages appropriate to each keyword or advert • CPC bids can also be set at the keyword level
What Next? • Start again by trying to maximise value over the whole account • Follow the same steps as before:
1. Change the budget 2. Change the average CPC 3. Try and increase the conversion rate or the average
value per visit 4. Diversify the keyword list
• Now it is much harder because the account is bigger and more complicated
• You should also integrate PPC with your other marke+ng channels
Integrated Marke+ng • PPC adver+sing produces a lot of data about poten+al customers. • You should use this data in other online marke+ng channels
Email Marke5ng Use your best PPC headlines as the subject of your emails. This can triple your opening rate
Print Adver5sing Make sure that you emphasise keywords that you know convert well.
Radio and Television Measure the reach and memorability of your television and radio ads
Search Engine Op5misa5on Establish which keywords are the most important to target and which meta descrip+ons are likely to result in clicks.
Ques+ons?