Pauline Jakober says, “People have the best of intentions when they take on PPC without the help of a professional. And why wouldn’t they have high hopes when Google makes it look so easy in its myriad of fanciful videos? Now, I’m sure there are a lot of smart, self-taught business owners and in-house marketers who have found some success with PPC. But they also have their day jobs, and that’s where it gets tricky to stay on top of all the newest paid search features, trends and strategies that are essential for staying ahead, not to mention trying to monitor and optimize the account... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Paid search in 2016 might have started uneventfully, but the lull did not last. Beginning in February, there was a rush of announcements that culminated at the Google Performance Summit on May 24. Those announcements will shape much of what search marketers will be working on in the second half of the year. Here’s a look back at all the big feature updates, launches and news from Microsoft’s Bing Ads and Google AdWords so far this year. The new Bing Network In the first week of the year, Bing took over powering search and search ads on AOL from Google. In the 10-year... [...]

Amber Callan says, “Whether your ads are dominating paid search or need a little boost, ad extensions help in a variety of ways: 1) Better Click-Through-Rates AdWords Extensions provide additional ways for searchers to learn more about your business and to interact with your ad. Searchers can make a phone call or go directly to the service page that they’re looking for from your ad/ 2) Increased Visibility Using Ad Extensions lets your ad take up more PPC real estate, making your ads stand out from the others. Just compare the ads with and without extensions above and you’ll see that... [...]

Andy Beohar says, “You’ve poured thousands of dollars into your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search campaigns and have managed to generate a substantial number of leads. You’re rocking your conversion rates and your cost per lead is great. So what’s the problem? It’s only when you start analyzing your results and dig a little deeper that you realize an overwhelming majority of these leads are in essence “junk leads”. Very few are turning into opportunities, let alone customers. The bottom line is, you’re just not seeing a healthy ROI. In this post, we provide nine proven strategies that... [...]

Mark Smith says, “Right now, as you read this, athletes all over the world are working hard and persisting through pain to prepare themselves to represent their country and find personal glory in the 2016 Olympics. Yet, let’s be honest: Except for their families and a few close friends, unless the athletes end up on the podium in one of those top three spots with medals hanging around their necks, all that effort and sacrifice will have gone mostly unnoticed. No one remembers who came in 16th, 8th, or even 5th. Digital marketers are now facing a similar situation because of recently... [...]

James Green says, “There are still a great many businesses that aren’t advertising online — or at least not diverting healthy budgets to it. In fact, one survey showed that small businesses are only spending 3 percent of their total ad budgets on Web ads. I’ve talked to a lot of companies over the years and found some of them to be apprehensive about pay per click. They typically fall into one of six categories when it comes to how they feel about PPC. If you or someone you know is leery about PPC, read on to find out if any of the following types resonate with you. Maybe you’ll uncover... [...]

Lori Weiman says, “Welcome to Part 6 of an eight-part series on PPC brand bidding, where I answer the biggest question facing PPC advertisers in 2016: How do I get meaningful growth numbers out of a crowded and competitive PPC market? The answer is surprisingly simple: Brand Bidding. Advertisers at The Search Monitor (disclosure: my employer) currently enjoy tremendous growth from PPC brand bidding. I created this series to show you how they do it. Remember how we highlighted Avery’s tremendous results from brand bidding in Part 5? Avery monitors their brand heavily, and the results are... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Getting to grips with PPC measurement? Search campaign tracking can often be unsophisticated, working on a last click model, measuring revenue, transactions, ROI etc. However, some more advanced marketers measure a bigger variety of variables, including profit margin, lifetime value and phone contacts. Let’s look at the different levels of PPC campaign tracking. Of course, these aren’t mutually exclusive – a combination can be used for performance objectives. 1. Reach Reach, or awareness, is defined as the number of ad impressions generated by the campaign... [...]

Lori Weiman says, “Welcome to Part 5 of an eight-part series on PPC brand bidding, where I answer the biggest question facing PPC advertisers in 2016: How do I get meaningful growth numbers out of a crowded and competitive PPC market? Let’s get you caught up: Part 1 reviewed how gains in PPC evolved over the years and why top line revenue is so hard to come by today. Part 2 used data to explain the value of brand bidding. Part 3 discussed best practices of implementing brand bidding campaigns. And Part 4 dove deep into working with partners and affiliates. This article shows you exactly... [...]

Ben Davis says, “There’s a lot to know about paid search advertising. To mark the release of Econsultancy’s newly updated PPC Best Practice Guide, I’ve pulled together a brief intro to KPIs, budgets and resourcing for paid search. The full guide is more than 350-pages long and includes the basics of setting up a campaign, to more involved cross-channel strategy. Managing KPIs As with all marketing channels, PPC advertising should support clear goals (e.g. to increase donations) and objectives (e.g. increase web traffic to donation page). Measuring success in meeting your... [...]