Frederick Vallaeys says, “Doing PPC reporting right often involves some trade-offs between time and money. The perfect report takes a lot of time to build — time that could have been spent improving the performance of an account. A quick and repeatable report, on the other hand, is usually generated through a tool that costs money. So the arrival of Data Studio, which offers very customizable reporting, and now does so at a cost of $0, warrants an investigation to determine how it can help account managers. Because the tool suite of my company, Optmyzr, also includes PPC reporting, spending... [...]

Purna Virji says, “Here’s a question for you: Do you think a brand can influence your behavior outside of purchase preference? Put another way, will seeing the North Face logo make you want to take up hiking in the snow? A few years ago, researchers at Duke University conducted an experiment with 341 students. Their goal? Studying what makes a brand powerful and how we’re influenced by brands. As part of this study, the students were asked to complete what they were told was a visual acuity test. During this test, either an Apple logo or IBM logo flashed on the screen for a second, so... [...]

Matt Umbro says, “I’ve been in the paid search industry for a nearly a decade. A lot has changed since I first learned how to write a simple ad with a 25-character headline and two 35-character description lines. Though the fundamentals of ad copywriting and testing remain in play, text ads have evolved to the point where you must consider many different components. Between devices, formatting, ad extensions and audience types, writing effective ad copy is more reliant on multiple factors than ever before. Just last month, AdWords rolled out IF functions to add another layer of ad customization.... [...]

Pauline Jakober says, “Does this sound familiar to you? Your company has finally agreed to spend some resources on pay-per-click (PPC), but instead of hiring a PPC professional or agency, they want you or perhaps Sally down the hall to take on the role of managing PPC. Never mind that you and Sally already have full-time jobs and haven’t the slightest clue about PPC. What do you do? This is not an uncommon scenario for many businesses, and it puts the burden on the person tasked with PPC to at least learn the fundamentals of the discipline and put the wheels in motion for a PPC “test.” The... [...]

Andrew Dennis says, “One of the most important elements of building a successful marketing career is to be a good communicator, and for PPC managers, that includes sharing insightful reports. At Optmyzr, my company, we generate a lot of reports on behalf of marketers, and we’ve learned a few things that might help you deliver better ones. So here are five common reporting mistakes that make you look like a bad account manager, and how to fix them. 1. Reports sent too soon that always undervalue PPC Reports you share with clients should show how good you are at PPC, but when you get overeager... [...]

Aaron Levy says, “On February 6, 2013, Google announced Enhanced Campaigns, coupling devices together to encourage (nod nod wink wink) the development of mobile-first campaigns. Bing, of course, followed suit soon after. The PPC world at large was not pleased. I think I speak for many of my peers when I say we’re a group that relishes precise control. While device-coupled campaigns offered mobile-specific messaging, they removed the ability to target mobile/tablet-only keywords or to budget by device. In late May of this year, Google was kind enough to reverse this most unpleasant change,... [...]

Pauline Jakober says, “Most PPC agencies or professionals who want to get more business have some form of marketing in play. And many of us have come across the more questionable methods. You know the kind I’m talking about, those unsolicited emails and calls with one goal: to scare a business into thinking there’s something terribly wrong with their current pay-per-click program. These ploys can easily confuse well-meaning businesses and leave them second-guessing their strategy. This is fear-based marketing, and we run into all kinds. In this post, I’ll walk you through three scare... [...]

Brett Middleton says, “I’ve come to believe that the essence of PPC management can be boiled down to two things: 1. Never let one thing (keyword research, bid management, A/B testing ad copy and so on) take up so much of your attention that you let something else slip. 2. What you did yesterday probably needs to be changed, and failing to adapt your methodology is as bad as having an empty “Change History” log. As you gain more experience in PPC, you start to develop patterns and favorite tactics out of necessity. We bring tools that worked in the past to each new campaign or ad account.... [...]

Jacob Baadsgaard says, “Have you ever opened up a paid search report and felt a jolt of fear? Maybe your new campaign wasn’t performing well. Maybe you’d inexplicably spent a ton on AdWords and had nothing to show for it. Maybe it was just more bad news in a losing fight for profitability. Regardless of your particular situation, if you’ve been in paid search for long, you’ve probably had that gut-wrenching feeling at some point. Turns out, there’s more to that feeling than you might have thought. After a series of rather extraordinary events, it’s become clear to me that there... [...]

Jacob Baadsgaard says, “Have you ever opened up a paid search report and felt a jolt of fear? Maybe your new campaign wasn’t performing well. Maybe you’d inexplicably spent a ton on AdWords and had nothing to show for it. Maybe it was just more bad news in a losing fight for profitability. Regardless of your particular situation, if you’ve been in paid search for long, you’ve probably had that gut-wrenching feeling at some point. Turns out, there’s more to that feeling than you might have thought. After a series of rather extraordinary events, it’s become clear to me that there... [...]