WordStream recently received intel from one of our field agents that Kristi Anderson, VP of marketing for GetOutfitted.com, was attempting to maximize the effectiveness of her PPC campaigns and increase conversions.

Despite facing overwhelming odds, Kristi succeeded in her mission by using WordStream’s not-so-super-secret paid search technology. Over the course of 30 days, Kristi learned precisely where she was going wrong in her paid search efforts, enabling her to take immediate action and get incredible results.

In just 30 days, Kristi was able to:

• Improve her impression-weighted Quality Score by 50%
• Raise her average CTR from 0.26% to 6.32% - 24 times higher than her original CTR
• Increase her account activity score from 39% to 72%

Kristi’s mission was ambitious, but far from impossible. In our upcoming webinar, Kristi will be joining WordStream’s Customer Success Specialist Margot da Cunha to share what she learned and explain how she was able to improve her overall AdWords account metrics by 1,200%.

Join Kristi, Margot and WordStream on Thursday, April 10 at 2 p.m. EST to learn how Kristi improved her account and how she’s working with the WordStream team to make a great account even better – because your AdWords account can always be more badass.

You can beat the odds and overcome “impossible” obstacles standing between you and PPC success – register now!

This post will self-destruct in five seconds…

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Ad text relevancy is important to keeping your audience engaged, and in some cases can dramatically improve key metrics like click-through rate (CTR). Whether it’s advertising your latest promotion, lowest sale price, or resonating with an audience interested in up-to-date stock prices, there are many scenarios when switching up your ad text is not only valuable but imperative.

Constantly updating ad text has its challenges. Keeping up with these updates can be time-consuming, especially for large accounts. Additionally, ad text updates are not always timely as they need to go through the Google review process which can take up to 24 hours. When a last-minute promotion only lasts a day, the update to your ad text can become moot as it may never reach the SERP. A great workaround to update ad copy in a timely manner is through utilizing dynamic parameters.

Not only can dynamic parameters expedite ad copy updates, but they can also improve key metrics in your account. On average, we have seen CTR double in ad groups where we’ve tested dynamic parameter implementation. One of our success stories lies with a gold buyer. The price of gold changes daily, and can greatly impact a consumer’s decision as to whether or not to sell their gold. As a test, we started pulling the daily gold price into our ad copy with a dynamic parameter.

The results were fantastic. Over one month, we saw CTR increase from 0.84% to 1.75%; a 107% improvement. What’s even better is that we saw conversions increase by 300%, indicating that the quality of the traffic sent to the site was high, and that visitors were farther down the decision-making funnel.

How to Set Up Dynamic Parameters in AdWords

Dynamic Parameters can be set up using an AdWords script. For the non-developers out there, we broke down the process:

1. Select the ad group(s) where you would like to implement dynamic parameters. I would recommend starting with one to ensure everything’s pulling through correctly.
2. Create a text ad within the selected ad group around the dynamic text that you’ll be pulling into the ad. Something like this:

The parameter is set up similar to dynamic keyword insertion. Put a default number into the param in the event that there is not a value to pull through the script (in the example above, the default value is 10).

3. Create a live Google doc where you will store your data. The doc should have 3 columns (or 4 if you’d like to test 2 parameters). It should look something like this:

The param1 info is where you will update your data. In this case, we are changing the dog collar price to $5.50.

4. Next, set up the AdWords script. Within AdWords, go to Bulk operations > Scripts

And click the +Script button.

5. Copy and paste the following script (update the highlighted section with the full link to your Google doc created in Step 3):

/************************************************
* Update Ad Params by Ad Groups
************************************************/
var SPREADSHEET_URL = "https://docs.google.com/";
var SET_PARAM1 = true;
var SET_PARAM2 = false;
var DATA_RANGE = 'A:D'; // A - CampaignName, B - AdGroupName, 
                        // C - Param1, D - Param2
 
function main() {
  var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.openByUrl(SPREADSHEET_URL);
  var allSheets = spreadsheet.getSheets();
  var allData = [];
  for(var i in allSheets) {
    var sheet = allSheets[i];
    var data = sheet.getRange(DATA_RANGE).getValues();
    data.shift(); //get rid of headers
    allData = allData.concat(data);
  }
   
  var allDataHash = {};
  for(var i in allData) {
    var row = allData[i];
    if(row[0] === '') { continue; }
    var rowKey = [row[0],row[1]].join('~~!~~');
    allDataHash[rowKey] = { param1 : row[2], param2: row[3] };
  }
   
  var kwIter = AdWordsApp.keywords()
    .withCondition('CampaignStatus = ENABLED')
    .withCondition('AdGroupStatus = ENABLED')
    .withCondition('Status = ENABLED')
    .get();
   
  while(kwIter.hasNext()) { 
    var kw = kwIter.next();
    var campName = kw.getCampaign().getName();
    var adGroupName = kw.getAdGroup().getName();
    var rowKey = [campName,adGroupName].join('~~!~~');
    if(allDataHash[rowKey]) {
      if(SET_PARAM1) { kw.setAdParam(1, allDataHash[rowKey].param1); }
      if(SET_PARAM2) { kw.setAdParam(2, allDataHash[rowKey].param2); }
    }
  }
}

6. Authorize your script, and then run it! You can set up a schedule for your script to run daily, weekly, etc. to fit your needs.

And, voila! The result will load with your ad modified for how it is queried on the SERP:

Key Takeaways

In our tests, AdWords dynamic parameters have proven to be an extremely effective and easy to way to improve your ad performance. Dynamic parameters:

• Keep your ad text timely without the need for approval
• Ensure that your ads are as relevant as possible to users
• Increase click-through rate, conversion rate and Quality Score

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Here in Boston, we finally had a day that one could call “Spring-like.” It was warm (a whole 52 degrees!), people were walking around without jackets, and there was a general feeling of “I really hope we are done with the snow” filling the air.

Ah, spring!

Along with this, a number of my clients are cleaning up their AdWords accounts and getting ready for the spring and summer months ahead. For some industries, nothing really changes when the temperatures go up, but for a lot of seasonal businesses and merchants, there is plenty of updating to do within their accounts.

So here are my top five ways to make sure your AdWords account is ready for spring!

Out with the Warm and In With the … Skimpy?

A few of my clients sell different types and styles of clothing. In the fall and winter, we primarily target items like sweaters, coats, scarves, hats, mittens, etc. But now we’re focusing on typical spring and summer clothing – dresses, skirts, shorts, and bathing suits. You want to make sure that more of your budget and time are going towards the items that people need for these seasons.

This may seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised how often I see people spending money on terms like “winter coats” in July. People might be searching these items, but the likelihood of them purchasing these types of items are low – they’re probably looking for post-season clearances, so unless your jackets are heavily reduced, they’re probably just browsing. Pull back budgets and bids (or even completely pause) your fall and winter items or services and use those resources to boost up items relevant to spring and summer.

Think Bright & Beautiful

Quick, what type of colors do you think of when you hear “Fall”? I think of oranges, reds, browns, and maybe even yellow. What about “Winter”? Maybe gray and white? I’m guessing that the colors are quite different than what you think of for “Summer” and “Spring.” And same goes for those who look at your banner ads! Make sure you update your display ads to include seasonally appropriate colors so your clients are in the right frame of mind.

For example, compare these two ads from the same advertiser:

Client's Fall/Winter ads

Same client’s Summer/Spring ads

Update PLAs & Other Ads with Sunnier Terms

While you’re utilizing spring and summer colors for your banner ads, use terms that invoke warmer weather, brighter days, and the general joy of summer. During colder months, you might use terms like “warm,” “cozy,” and “toasty.” In the warmer months, terms like “fresh,” “vibrant,” and “light.”

Do Some Spring Cleaning (And Summer Cleaning…)

Clear out keywords, ad groups, and even campaigns that aren’t performing up to the account average. Sometimes just clearing out keywords that haven’t received any impressions, clicks, or conversions can improve the performance of an ad group overall. This isn’t actually a seasonality thing – you should probably do this every few months. But a little reminder never hurts!

Be Ahead of the Trends

You may think it’s a tad early to get your account ready for summer in March, but remember, people tend to buy their clothes prior to the season they will actually wear them. Items like bathing suits and sunglasses are already doubling in traffic in March compared to in January. Being one step ahead will allow you to capture these early season shoppers.  

The popularity of the search term "bathing suits" from Jan 1 through March 21

These quick and easy steps will help your account get ready for Spring! You can also check out our own Lisa Wilkinson in this Spring cleaning webinar for more account clean-up tips.

Top image via Moyan Brenn

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

What would it do for your business if you were able to crawl inside my brain and wallow in crazy-effective PPC knowledge, gained over more than ten years working in paid search every single day?

The insane insights and experience you would take away would become your ultimate PPC secret weapon, giving you the power to slay the competition and squeeze every last drop of ROI out of your AdWords campaigns.

For one day only, you have the opportunity to do just that. In our next free webinar, I'll share mind-blowing PPC secrets and unconventional wisdom gleaned over my 10+ year career in PPC.

Our Ultimate Introduction to Pay-Per-Click Advertising webinar is designed to help you kick-start your PPC campaigns or invigorate your existing ones.

There's no denying that AdWords ads are a highly effective way to get your product or service in front of the right target market; in fact, 64.6% of consumers click a Google Ad when researching an item to buy online. If you’re not advertising on Google (or your ad doesn’t stand out), you’re missing a HUGE opportunity.

However, unless you've somehow managed to clone yourself into a small army of marketers, you only have so many minutes in a day – and you probably aren't using them to keep up with the hundreds of changes Google makes within AdWords each year. I don't blame you!

If you’ve read other Introduction toPPC guides or attended other webinars, you've probably been pumped full of a lot of conventional wisdom, like:

• Quality Score isn’t important! Just focus on ROI.
• Ad testing is crucial – try changing the punctuation!
• Remarketing is creepy! You need to set low impression caps.
• My 2% click-through and conversion rates are AWESOME!

We hear these things over and over. None of it is true.

I'm going to share secrets Google doesn't want you to know – even if you've been advertising for years, you're going to discover data-backed tips and tricks that fly in the face of everything you thought you knew about PPC. Challenge your current thinking and elevate your paid search strategy to new heights!

In just 40 minutes, you'll take away ten years' worth of PPC knowledge and experience. This is the only Intro to PPC you'll ever need!

Join us Tuesday, April 15, at 2 pm EST for Ultimate Introduction to Pay-Per-Click Advertising. Register now!!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Google has just announced a secure search update that will see the query removed from the referrer on ad clicks originating from signed-in search on Google.

What does this mean? For starters, it means much of the hyperbole and hysterics about Google "slamming" third parties by stripping away their search query data in AdWords was unfounded.

To recap, back in March, Amit Singhal announced that Google was working on a solution to its apparent hypocrisy with regards to the “security” of “not provided” keyword data. This week, rumors started flying that Google was going to restrict access to paid search keyword data for all third-party providers, further crippling marketers and leaving them in the dark. That’s not the case.

Paid search query data is simply no longer being appended to referral URLs, but you can still get it via the AdWords API, through partners like WordStream, or in AdWords in general. This is how most people were already getting that data. However, if you were an analytics company that was accessing paid search query data without going through the AdWords API, by using log file data, you are out of luck.

I emailed Paul Feng this morning to see if he could shed some light on the reported "leaked Google document" that's been circulating the past few days. He published a post on the Google Developer's blog today that should clear up the confusion.

Feng explains, "We understand that some partners may need to make changes to their systems and operations, but we think that this is the right path forward for the security of our users searching on Google.com."

He also explains a couple of alternatives for those who use the query in the referrer for reporting, automated keyword generation or landing page customization:

• For generating reports or automating keyword management with query data, we suggest using the AdWords API Search Query Performance report or the AdWords Scripts Report service.
• For customizing landing pages, we suggest using the keyword that generated the ad click, rather than the query. The keyword and match type can be passed to your web server by using a ValueTrack parameter in your destination URLs.

So, to sum up:

• Stop panicking. Google has been cracking down on who can access search query data for several years now in a few ways – enforcing terms of service on how the data may be used, and limiting access to a smaller number of third-party vendors who implement a required minimum functionality (RMF). Basically, in order to have access to the query data, you need to be a legit software company that has built a functioning AdWords management platform. If you were an SEO agency that used to have an AdWords API token, it's probably been shut down over the last few years, and if it hasn't already been shut down, it won't last long. If Google was going to stop providing this data to all 3rd parties, then that would be new/surprising.
• Legit third-party AdWords management platforms (like WordStream, Marin, etc.) will continue to function as normal. Also, if you just use AdWords and no third-party platform, nothing has changed there either. Let’s not overstate the impact of this announcement.

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Why You Need Amazon Customer Reviews

Online reviews are the modern media world-of-mouth; they’re immensely powerful and can have a huge affect on how your business is perceived. A study last year found that:

• 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
• 85% of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses 
• 73% of consumers say positive customer reviews make them trust a business more

When you wish upon five stars, it makes no difference who you are – your business dreams come true! OK, in truth you’ll need a lot more than wishing to obtain a great Amazon star count. In this post we’ll talk about why Amazon customer reviews are important and the various ways you can earn them (both legitimately and not-so-legitimately).

What Amazon Customer Reviews Can Do For You

Amazon reviews serve a few different purposes. Reviews can:

• Push on-the-fence buyers into a purchase
• Convince consumers to buy your product over alternatives
• Assure customers of quality
• Serve as word of mouth recommendations

Why Product Reviews Matter & the Human Hardwire

Studies have shown that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool – even in an online age, when a fellow human being tells us about something great, we listen with open ears. Although our lives are vastly different than our neanderthal ancestors, we aren’t as far removed as we think. We are still programmed to make choices based on the actions of others. There is safety in numbers with the herd mentality, so when we see a lot of people recommending an item and saying they HAVE to have it, we tend to feel likewise.

As someone who frequents Slickdeals, a website that aggregates the daily online deals, I’ve witnessed myself and many others fall victim to the herd mentality. Many silly purchasing decisions have been made all because of a forum swarming with users saying, “in for 3, what a great deal!” or “unbelievable price on these, they’ll sell out quickly.” This results in unnecessary, even down-right useless purchases – an outcome that many on the site dub the SD affect. The truth is that we’re programmed to act quite sheepish.

Bah ram you, sheep aren't so true (photo courtesy net_efekt)

When it Comes to Getting Amazon Reviews, the More the Merrier

Social proof is some powerful stuff, and the more proof you have, the more potent it becomes. An item rated as 4.5 stars reviewed by 10 people won’t sell as well as an item rated as 4 stars reviewed by 300 people. More reviews look better, are more convincing, and boost your visibility when someone searches for your product on Amazon.

How to Get Reviews on Amazon: 5 Terrific Tips

How do you get legitimate, 100% authentic home-grown Amazon consumer reviews? Here’s how.

1.     Provide a great consumer experience. The majority of negative reviews involve consumers feeling misled about a product. Be honest about what you’re selling and provide as much accurate, precise information about your product as possible to avoid any confusion or false expectations.

2.      Send follow-up emails after an Amazon purchase asking for feedback. Amazon asks for feedback following a purchase, but it’s a generic email with nothing special. Instead, send personalized review requests; ideally you want to send them shortly after they’ve received your product so its awesomeness is still fresh in their minds. You can even use a site like FeedbackFive to automatically send customized feedback request emails. Make it really easy for users to leave a review by including a link.

3.     Request Amazon reviews via newsletter and social media. Chances are, the folks subscribed to your newsletter and your fans on Facebook already like you, so why not ask them for reviews? There’s a decent chance they’ve already bought a product from you, so they can provide legitimate, positive Amazon customer reviews. In our article about getting reviews on Yelp, we noted that Yelp discouraged directly soliciting reviews. Amazon, on the other hand, is much more lax.

4.     Reach out to users who reviewed similar products. You can find users who have reviewed products similar to yours (even your competitor’s products) by visiting your product page, going to “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and “Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed.” These are your competitors, and you could do well simply taking note of them and reading their reviews (paying attention to what they do well and what they fail at), and even checking out their website. 

For the sake of our Amazon review-centered discussion, simply click for the “customer reviews” link and sort by newest reviews. Click the reviewer’s name for their details.  If they provide contact info connected with their profile, you’re in luck! Send an e-mail.  If only a name shows up, try contacting them on another social network like Twitter or Facebook.

5.      Solicit the top Amazon reviewers. Amazon holds a list of their top reviewers – a compilation of esteemed reviewers who are valued for their insightful and objective critiques. Many of these top Amazon reviewers also hold titles such as “Top Ten Reviewer,” or “Hall of Fame Reviewer,” which are displayed alongside their reviews, making their reviews ultra-valuable.

We’ll discuss how to find these coveted super-star Amazon reviewers in our next section below.

How to Get Reviews from Top Amazon Reviewers

Snagging an assessment from one of these prize reviewers can mean big things for your Amazon seller account. These guys are the big mouth Billy basses of the Amazon world, and we’re going to show you how to reel them in.

Some of these Amazon reviewers make a living doing this – it’s serious business, and some may do as many as 100 reviews a month. Be prepared to offer your product for free in exchange for a review – depending on your product, this could be a pricey expenditure, so you’ll have to decide if this is a strategy you can afford. 

1.      Find the top reviewers. First we’ll scour the Amazon list of Top Reviewers. You’ll see the page is divided into Top Reviewer Rankings and Hall of Fame Reviewers. Hall of Fame holds the long-time legacy reviewers, while the Top Review Rankings shows the best Amazon contributors at the current moment. Hall of Fame shows the reviewers’ title badges and accolades, although you can get this same info mousing over names in the Top Reviewers section.

2.      Search for relevant tags. Mousing over names in either section will bring up the reviewer’s most used tags. Your goal will be to find top reviewers who have used tags related to product or industry in the past, making them a perfect target.

3.      Keep track of contacts. Next you’ll want to compile a contact list. Prepare to be excel-ent as you’ll want to keep all this info in a neat and tidy spreadsheet.

4.      Fish around for emails. Many popular reviewers will have their email addresses on their profile page. If you don’t see an email address, you’ll have to try reaching out via social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

And “bingo” was his name-o.

5.      Reach out with a thoughtful e-mail. Time to plead your case, so put on those puppy-dog eyes! Explain to the target that you found their review on Amazon and that you’d like to send them a product you believe they might be interested in. Don’t send out one soulless generic mass email – personalize the message showing that you’ve read up on the reviewer and seen their past reviews. Maybe comment on one review you found especially illuminating or clever. Personalizing your messages greatly improves your chances of getting a reply, so be sure to implement some considerate correspondence.

Tell them that you’re hoping for an honest review of the product, although no obligation is required. Many won’t respond to your email, and probably only around half will review the product you send, but that’s the name of the game. Yes, it’s risky. But if your product is awesome and you know it can earn great reviews, a few 5 star ratings from these top Amazon reviewers will be HUGE.

6.      Say thank you! One of my all time favorite books, How to Win Friends and Influence People (I swear, I’m not a self-help junkie, this is an eccentricity in my library), notes that all people crave sincere appreciation. Be sure to follow-up and thank the top Amazon reviewers for their thoughtful review – with sincerity of course!

Getting Amazon reviews from Amazon’s cream-of-the-crop critics isn’t easy, but it’ll pay off in the end when you’re rolling in gold stars.

Rainbow Brite knows all about star power

A Different Approach: Fake Reviews

Amazon is doing their best to combat fake reviews, but honestly, they aren’t doing a ton. In a way we’re dealing with the same black vs. white hat problem of whether or not you should buy Twitter followers, which is a tremendously controversial topic.

I believe it’s best to give readers the full low down and let you decide for yourself which kind of hat you’d like to wear.

Deicions, decisions - which hat to wear? (photo by Beverly Goodwin)

As always, fake reviews can be obtained if you’ve got the gut of a gambler. For falsified Amazon consumer reviews, you can check out… 

• Fiverr. Fiverr is such a weird melting pot of shady bizarre offerings. The black market of internet advertising, you can find just about anything for cheap on Fiverr, including artificial Amazon reviews.

• BuyAmazonReviews.com. Yes, it is real – you can buy Amazon reviews. It is trustworthy? Ehh… user discretion is most certainly advised.

Yes, you will get in trouble if you’re found out – heck, you might get your entire Amazon account suspended. But great risk, great reward, you know the drill, so it’s your call Saul.

How to Handle Bad Amazon Reviews

It’s tough making your living online – the web has a way of bringing out the worst in people as many users hide under the internet’s veil of anonymity to spread slander they’d never dream of voicing IRL. It’s not a matter of if you’ll ever get a bad review – it’s just a matter of when.

Prepare for the worst. You’ll get bad reviews. Maybe even really terrible ones. Criticisms may be indelicate, undeserved, or even downright cruel, and there’s no internet police who will come around and slap those naughty complainers on the wrists. That means it’s up to you to handle the situation. We suggest that you…

Take a cool down. Negative reviews can sting, which is why your first step upon receiving a negative Amazon customer review should be to simply step back. Take a day or even several to cool down and then assess the situation with a clear mind. Is there any merit to the review? Maybe this is a clue to how you can improve your product. Is it a pure emotional tirade? Other uses can sense a baseless rant, so while your star ratings may be affected, users who take the time to read your 1-star reviews may see the senselessness of a bad review. If the review is blatantly emotional, these cool down days may be as beneficial for you as for the reviewer – they may be able to realize their earlier review was unreasonable and be open to editing it.

Approach with extreme caution. The next step is deciding whether or not to respond to a piece of negative feedback. Here’s where things get tricky, because the situation can change depending on whether you are an Amazon reseller dealing with negative seller feedback, or whether the problem is a negative product review.

• For Amazon Resellers: First examine the issues the buyer had – can the problem be remedied? Consider offering refund or replacement. Buyers can remove feedback for up to 60 days after a review is posted, so there’s usually a chance of redemption.
• For Bad Amazon Product Reviews: Responding publically may add further damage, especially if others take the side of the reviewer. Look forward to burying this negative review with new positive ones. Amazon will remove a review in specific cases like those involving privacy violations or obscene language, but these situations aren’t common.

Enjoy Those 5-Star Reviews!

We’ve done our best to provide you with the Amazon aptitude necessary to bring in great Amazon reviews. Do you have additional Amazon advice? Share it in the comment section!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Do Google’s Shopping campaigns (the new version of Product Listing Ads) work? My answer 100 out of 100 times would be yes! The results speak for themselves, but simply, what advertiser wouldn’t want to see metrics and bid at the specific product level??? I’ve worked with accounts that have super-segmented product feeds and accounts that aren’t segmented at all. The results will vary account to account, industry to industry.

For me the biggest asset with Shopping ads is clarity. You can now see everything you need to manage a PLA campaign almost as if it were a regular search campaign. You can see which specific products are accumulating the most spend, you can see which products are converting and for how much. You have the power to manage PLAs like you do keywords (minus match types).

RIP Product Listing Ads

Don’t want to make the migration to Shopping ads? Well unfortunately, Google is forcing everyone to to make the transition in late August of 2014. This post will help you make the transition and tell you why you should be excited.

Here’s an overview of the topics:

1. Transitioning to Shopping Campaigns
2. Custom Labels Optional
3. Case Study – Before and After Product Feed Segmentation
4. Case Study – Optimization and Progression
5. Conclusion

Transitioning PLAs to New Shopping Campaigns

The task of transitioning from Product Listing Ads to Shopping campaigns can be a little nerve-racking, but have no fear. Here are a few guidelines to follow:

1. Strategically choose how you want to segment your feed into Product Groups: Category, Brand, Item ID, Condition, Product Type, Custom Labels.
2. Try to be consistent with any bids or labels you we’re using previously. If you’re segmenting your feed for the first time, start with a conservative default bid 15-30% less than your previous bid. This will ensure that you don’t get blindsided overnight. It’s always easier to raise bids, versus taking a hit and retroactively reducing bids based on poor results.
3. I’ve heard mixed reviews; however, in my experience I choose to run my historical PLAs and new Shopping PLAs simultaneously. For days 1-3 I set the “Priority Level” to Low. For days 3-5 I set the “Priority Level” to Medium.

4. Once your Shopping PLAs start accumulating more and more traffic, start adjusting bids within specific products groups.
5. After you start applying different bids to different product groups, adjust the “Priority Level” to High or turn off your historical PLAs.
6. Sit back and enjoy the improvement in ROI!

Custom Labels Optional

One of the biggest advantages of Shopping campaigns is you don’t have to create custom labels in your product feed to allow you to start bidding differently within AdWords. Shopping PLAs use the columns within your feed already, and give you the option to subdivide by:

• Category
• Brand
• Item ID
• Condition
• Product Type
• Up to 5 Custom Labels

Case Study 1 – Before and After Product Feed Segmentation

The first case study is an online candy retailer. This account started using Product Listing Ads in the later part of 2013. We set up the campaign, used the default “Ad Group #1” and applied one Max CPC bid across all products.

Within the first week couple weeks, we were already pleased with the results we generating. The PLAs continued to perform for us, so the daunting task of segmenting our feed never arose. When Shopping campaigns were released it allowed us to segment our PLAs without adding anything new to our product feed. The metrics below reflect the same date range and what happen after we started applying different bids to different categories, brands and products.

The metric that jumps off the page is the ROAS (return on ad spend), which increased by 174%!

How you might ask? I choose to segment my new Shopping campaign by Brands. The reason I choose to segment by Brands is because I know certain brands have higher margins and certain brands typically generate higher AOVs. Knowing that information, I translated that into my bidding system. I started applying different bids based on the Brands, and then as more and more data came back I just treated each specific product like a keyword, and bidded on them separately.

The beauty of Shopping campaigns is you can segment your feed without getting your hands dirty! Couple clicks and you’re all set – you never have to touch the feed in Merchant Center.  

Case Study 2 – Optimization and Progression

In this case study I want highlight the progression you can make, when you have data at your fingertips and the ability to manage around it. In this 8-week period, we experienced phenomenal improvement week over week.

Each week I was able to adjust my bids based on the results I was generating. Seeing the improvement, gave me the confidence to keep raising the budget, which explains the increase in conversion totals. The improvement in Value/Conv. and ROAS week over week I credit to bidding adjustments. I was able to be much more aggressive on products that continued to generate great return.  

How did I know where I could push up on bids without bringing down ROAS?

The answer to that is the Search Impression Share column.

AdWords defines Impression Share as: “the impressions you’ve received divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive.”

When I look at the picture above, those impression share percentages tell me I have the potential to show more frequently. I used that % to tell me where I can be more aggressive. If the product group was consistently generating a ROAS I was happy with and the search impression was low, I immediately knew I could squeeze even more out of those product groups.

Google has been kind enough to provide us with a few other metrics we can use to judge our performance against.  

1. Benchmark CTR – “The benchmark clickthrough rate (CTR) tells you how other advertisers’ Product Listing Ads for similar products are performing based on how often people who see their ad end up clicking on it.”

And….

2. Benchmark Max CPC– “The benchmark maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC) tells you how other advertisers are bidding on similar products.”

I recommend focusing on Impression Share versus Benchmark CTR and Benchmark Max CPC. Sure those columns great, and I do look at them. But many of us don’t have the luxury of jacking our bids up to what Google deems as a “Benchmark CPC” just to see what happens.

Here’s a quick look at my results vs. Google’s “Benchmarks”:

Take that Google! Based on my continued bidding adjustments I was able to achieve average CPC’s 30-75% below what you claim as a “Benchmark.” (We can’t fault Google, it’s their business too after all.) I would recommend starting with a lower bid and increasing it based on the results you’re generating and amount of impression share you’re capturing.   

In Conclusion…

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS! You’ll have to eventually, but don’t wait!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Let’s face it, the internet is full of clowns and jokers.

While Amazon is largely a site of purposeful, insightful reviews, under the darkness of night you may find it transformed into a local comedy club, full of amateur stand-ups looking for a laugh. Plenty of folks employ Amazon consumer reviews to poke fun at some of the outrageous products found on the web in a movement dubbed “customer review comedy.”

Today we’re giving you the top 10 funniest Amazon products and their hilarious reviews.

1. Three Wolf Moon Shirt

Arguably the most popular Amazon internet joke is the Three Wolf Moon Shirt. Since its introduction onto Amazon in 2008 it has gone on to earn over 2,790 reviews and has become its own meme. The shirt’s viral explosion increased the shirt’s sales by 2,300%. The reviews may be for laughs, but there’s nothing funny about those numbers baby!

And to think – you thought two wolves were great! But three? Am I in paradise? Reviewers are in awe of this t-shirt’s mystical wonders.

The Three Wolf Moon meme is one of the most well-known internet insider jokes, spawning fan tributes like…

The most popular Three Wolf Moon Shirt review comes from a user explaining how wearing his Three Wolf T-shirt turns him into an instant babe magnet.

This funny Amazon review is so popular that it serves as the inspiration for a popular College Humor spoof, Mountain Dew and all.

2. Tuscan Whole Milk

Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz– there’s something poetic about it, is there not? Other Amazon reviewers certainly think so, giving it a 4 star rating despite its inflated dairy pricing of $45.00. Ingredients listed: “secret.” This strange Amazon product has earned a host of comical reviews.

One reviewer crafted a fantastic Edgar Allen Poe-inspired ode to Tuscan Whole Milk, one of the best reviews on Amazon. Below is the beginning – read it in all its glory.

Another user discovers a whole new way to enjoy breakfast with Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon.

3. Bic For Her Pens

It’s hard to say whether or not Bic’s idea to create a line of pens dedicated to the needs of the fairer sex (slimmer design and – oh my heavens – such pretty colors!) was a joke at conception; one can questions whether they were ever intended to be taken seriously. Whatever the reasoning behind their initial release, the Bic’s For Her Ball Pens quickly rattled the cages of web-wielding cohorts, who bombarded the product’s Amazon page with tongue-in-cheek reviews. 

4. Samsung Ultra HD UHDTV

At 85 inches with “4K Ultra HD” Samsung’s UN85S9 HDTV is a super-deluxe television with a price tag to match – it’s listed at just shy of 40k. Is it any wonder this excessive piece of technological travesty became an easy target for internet lampoonery?

There are a number of funny reviews for this product, most mocking the television’s exorbitant pricing. One reviewer says:

Another writes…

However, by far the best – and one of the funniest Amazon reviews ever (IMHO anyway) - comes from James O. Thach, an Amazon Top 500 Reviewer, who tells a sad and sorry tale of sacrifices made in order to obtain this Samsung TV.

The review goes on a bit more with a follow-up after Amanda’s return. It’s a true piece of comedic excellent and worth reading in its entirety on Amazon.

5. Banana Slicer

Oh Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer, was there ever so useless a kitchen accessory? Probably not, but your absurdity has earned you an ironic 3.5 star rating and some funny fake Amazon reviews.

6. How to Avoid Huge Ships

Who doesn’t want to learn how to avoid huge ships? Without valuable information provided in Captain John W. Trimmer How to Avoid Huge Ships (Second Edition), you might find yourself walking down the street one day and BAM! Hit by a ship. It happens people -  this is the new reality. Don’t stay ignorant and unprotected – defend your family against large ships!

Some applaud the book’s sage advice on avoiding large ships and its assistance in broaching the subject of responsible ship use with younger generations.

Others wish they hadn’t read it.

7. Hairbo Sugar Free Candy

Haribo gummy bears are beloved by many, cited often as THE most delicious gummy animal product on the market. However, things change a little when you go for the sugar-free alternative advertised here. One man shares the story of his gastro-intestinal intensity.

8. Horse Head Mask

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this horse head mask is the most valuable contribution man has made to society since toast (think about it – it use to just be “warm bread” until someone got smart one day). This simple head garb transforms the mundane into Salvador-Dali-eque surrealism.

The best part of these funny Amazon reviews has to be the customer product photos, which are so hilarious that they belong in a best-selling coffee table book somewhere.

9. Diamond HDMI Cord

Introducing an HDMI cord so classy, you can propose to your girlfriend with it! The diamond braided HDMI cable is a whole new way to put yourself into crippling debt while enjoying the best that high definition has to offer. Never mind that it’s 5X as much as the television – the improved picture quality is like totally worth it.

Hopefully we haven’t already forgotten important lessons learned from Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2006 hit Blood Diamond.

10. Blue Rock Candy

Us poor, suffering Breaking Bad fans are still bemoaning the loss of our beloved show (Magnets! Science, yo!) Thankfully, Amazon reviews live on, providing us with the chance to encounter Heisenberg and his devoted junkies once more.

And because I won’t rest until this is performed in a Middle School somewhere in this country…

Do you have any favorite funny Amazon reviews you want to share? Post links in the comments!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

It seems there’s always a digital marketing conference going on somewhere, but few were as eagerly anticipated as SearchLove Boston 2014 was. The thoroughly charming folks at Distilled assembled a truly diverse lineup of speakers for the event – a roster of search and digital marketing talent that certainly didn’t disappoint.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a week since we gathered at Harvard Medical School’s Joseph B. Martin Conference Center for the event, and perhaps even harder to believe that I failed to get this write-up finished sooner. C’est la vie.

Although I’ve no doubt many of you were hanging on my every word on Twitter during the conference, here’s a round-up of some of my favorite sessions.

Day One

Although Distilled’s Founder and Chief Marketing Officer Will Critchlow wryly poked fun at the title of his keynote presentation (“The Golden Age of Digital Marketing”), he very astutely pointed out that all signs suggest that we truly are poised at the frontier of a bold new era in search. He also impressed the audience by delivering his keynote without relying on a deck – bravo, sir.

After explaining why search is likely to become a marketing juggernaut in the coming years, he handed over to the first of the day’s speakers, Matthew Brown of Moz.

Matthew Brown, Moz

In the first session of SearchLove Boston, Moz’s Senior Vice President of Special Projects, Matthew Brown, took to the stage with a cautionary tale of why learning from the behavior – and mistakes – of “the herd” is essential to SEOs and digital marketers today.

Brown wasted no time illustrating how true innovation in search is a precious commodity these days – an endeavor that few marketers have the courage (or ingenuity) to attempt.

#searchlove@MatthewJBrown We’re no longer innovating. We’re just waiting for Matt Cutts or Google to tell us what to do

— Overit (@overit) April 7, 2014

Google’s brutal judgment of sites using link manipulation, and many marketers’ frantic reactionary response, certainly wasn’t lost on many attendees at Matthew’s session:

Instead of us thinking about the future, we're messing around with link removal #searchlove#seofails

— Morgan Kelly Burke (@morgankburke) April 7, 2014

Brown also touched on how content creation was rapidly becoming a priority for independent and in-house SEOs, and noted that “traditional” SEO activities like link-building (just one tactic that Brown referred to as “Old Testament SEO”) weren’t even on the radar.

#Content creation still relatively low priority for agencies vs. in-house teams/indies - @MatthewJBrown#searchlove

— Dan Shewan (@danshewan) April 7, 2014

As you’d expect from Moz, Matthew’s presentation was backed up by lots of data and analysis, all of which can be seen in his deck from the conference. Also, Brown wins extra points for including a slide from the seriously underrated 1983 Matthew Broderick movie, “War Games.”

Rick Backus, CPC Strategy

The next highlight of SearchLove’s first day was a presentation by CPC Strategy’s Founder Rick Backus. As well as delivering a quality talk on the importance of inbound marketing, Rick also managed to look a lot like Ben Affleck from where I was sitting at the back of the auditorium, which made it even more entertaining (and somewhat surreal).

@CPC_Rick great job at #searchlove Ben whoops I mean Rick. pic.twitter.com/CynxYGVbtc

— Todd Cruikshank (@toddcruik) April 9, 2014

After leading with an endearingly self-deprecating anecdote of how he started his career in sales, Rick immediately got to work by giving us a history of how CPC Strategy’s content efforts have led to strong growth in both traffic and revenue. Rick explained how CPC Strategy goes about planning and writing blog posts, and how his company uses personas when devising new content projects – something that many larger sites fail to do.

Rick also took a subtle dig at much of the “thought leadership” that surrounds the marketing space by pointing out the difficulty – and necessity – of becoming a genuinely trusted authority within search without becoming a caricature (image taken from Mike Judge’s new satirical HBO show, “Silicon Valley”).

If the content CPC Strategy produces is as good as Rick’s presentation at SearchLove, it’s little wonder the company has been able to grow so quickly. You can check out Rick’s deck here.

Aaron Weyenberg, TED

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Aaron Weyenberg’s talk. Admittedly, it seemed like the black sheep of the lineup, but something about the premise intrigued me. As it turns out, Aaron’s talk was my favorite of the whole conference.

Aaron’s presentation focused around the redesign of TED’s online presence – not exactly an inconsequential undertaking for an immediately recognizable global brand. At the heart of the redesign project was user experience, Aaron’s area of expertise.

Just as Rick needs to truly understand who reads CPC Strategy’s content, the concept of knowing and understanding audience was central to TED’s redesign efforts. Aaron explained that he and his team identified several unique archetypes among TED’s audience, which provided them with a starting point for presenting not just TED talks, but relevant blog content.

Understanding these audience archetypes enabled Aaron and his team to prioritize content according to what each type of person considers to be TED’s most valuable content. It also allowed them to make judgment calls on features that would only appeal to a narrow subsection of TED’s audience and design the site in a way that felt responsive and relevant to a large user base.

Overall, Aaron’s presentation was a fascinating glimpse into how knowing your audience is (or should be) central to any content project.

Day Two

There were more than a few bleary-eyed folks lining up for pastries and coffee before Day Two kicked off, thanks to the free drinks provided at the Distilled party at the Baseball Tavern. However, that didn’t stop attendees from packing the auditorium for the first of Day Two’s presentations, which came courtesy of none other than Rand Fishkin.

Rand Fishkin, Moz

Rand’s presentation, “Why Great Marketers Must Be Great Skeptics,” wasn’t just characteristically entertaining – it was also remarkably refreshing. Rather than clamoring to get in on The Next Big Thing™ or trending bandwagon, Rand advised that marketers should take stock of what’s actually being said and examine things through the lens of evidence – in other words, be skeptical.

As you’d expect from Moz, Rand’s presentation used several real case studies from Moz (as well as data from Larry’s recent post about conversion rates) and went into great depth about why A/B testing is so important. Rand also provided several examples of how even well-intentioned (yet flawed) assumptions can be very dangerous for marketers.

In a way, it was kind of unfair for the folks at Distilled to schedule Rand’s presentation for the start of the second day, simply because it was such a tough act to follow. Check out Rand’s deck for ways you can become an awesome skeptic – just like Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Scientology & Astrology. Just because you can append an “-ology” to a word, does not make it based in objective reality.

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 3, 2014

Rob Toledo, Distilled

Any marketer who has ever courted industry publications will be familiar with the endless struggle of trying to get editors and journalists to read – and act on – a pitch. Writers, editors and other influencers are bombarded with an onslaught of email every day, making it increasingly difficult for marketers (even those with an interesting story) to make their voices heard. Rob Toledo, Distilled’s Head of Outreach, offered up some advice about this challenge in his presentation, “The Hunter/Gatherer.”

During his highly entertaining talk, Rob outlined his theory of why getting influencers’ attention is so hard – namely, because people want to discover things for themselves. From a marketer’s perspective, Rob likened this to the movie “Inception” – we have to plant the idea in the minds of the influencers we want to, um, influence, but not take any credit for it.

Check out Rob’s deck to see some real-world examples of how some content producers managed to score major media exposure for their brand by cleverly manipulating this desire for discovery.

Margot Bloomstein, Appropriate, Inc.

Too many marketers think that creating a deluge of content will solve all their problems. This is not the case, and Margot Bloomstein shared similar sentiments in her presentation, “Slow Your Roll: Driving Results from Slow Content.”

Margot’s talk focused on the fact that slowing down the user experience through content can actually be a remarkably effective way of improving engagement and building a brand. This approach to content creation can also increase conversions, as it helps users explore and discover content for themselves, make deliberate decisions and focus their attention.

To see some examples of brands that accomplish this really well, and for other tips for slowing down your content strategy, take a look at Margot’s deck.

Alas, it seemed that SearchLove Boston 2014 was over as quickly as it began. Fortunately for everyone who couldn’t make it this time, Distilled will be hosting the next SearchLove event in beautiful San Diego, California, on September 11 and 12. You can find out more and buy tickets here.

I’d personally like to thank Distilled for their hard work and for putting on such an excellent conference – you guys rock. See you next year!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

I’m sure by now many of you have at least heard of Google’s Flexible Bid Strategies (or read Larry’s blog post on the Top 10 AdWords Features of 2013), which was announced in May of last year. Google created these strategies to help advertisers make more sense of their bidding and spend less time trying to figure out what to do. However, most are struggling to see what the benefits are, how and where to use them, and how to measure success. 

In this post, you'll learn what they are, the different types of flexible bid strategies, and how to make them work for you.

What are Flexible Bid Strategies?

Flexible bid strategies automatically set bids to optimize for certain goals across set campaigns, ad groups and keywords.

Once you have created a strategy, it will be shared in your Shared Library in Google AdWords, making it accessible from one spot and making performance tracking easier. You can apply the strategy on the campaign, ad group or keyword level from each respective tab.

Measuring success will depend on which of the flexible bid strategies you employ, but ultimately, are you getting what you signed up for? Are you getting more conversions within your target CPA? Are your CPC’s within your goals and budget? Reviewing the data will tell you if something is working or not. Since these strategies can be applied at different levels and you will be adding them with different goals in mind, be sure to go over the data thoroughly and make sure the numbers reflect your goals. Also check whether the leads and sales you are receiving are of the same caliber you were receiving (or better) than before you started using flexible bid strategies. This will help you define success.

The chart above is a quick overview of what the various flexible bid strategies are and when to use them. Now we’re going to take a deeper dive into how each of them work, where to apply them, and what you still have control over.

Maximize Clicks

This strategy is something that many of you are probably familiar with, as it is essentially automatic bidding. This strategy will focus on increasing clicks while spending a target amount. The target spend amount is essentially the budget you are setting for any campaign/ad group/keyword that is utilizing this strategy. This is separate from the daily budget you will set on the campaign level for a campaign using manual bidding or another bid strategy.

This is different than automatic bidding as you can set this to specific ad groups or keywords instead of just at the campaign level, but you can still set this up at the campaign level as well. You can still control ad scheduling, but you can no longer set day or time of day bid adjustments. A note about the target spend: this is an amount that you set that is applied to any campaign, ad group or keyword using this strategy. This is separate from your campaigns’ daily budgets, as it is applied to those campaigns and ad groups that are using this flexible bidding strategy. With Maximize Clicks, you are giving Google control to change your bids in order for the areas using this strategy to work to gain you the most clicks. You can set a CPC bid limit to ensure that Google isn’t setting your bids higher than you would like to spend per click.

This strategy will allow for you to set up custom ad scheduling for day and time of day (not bid adjustments, but scheduling) where you can use the Maximize Clicks strategy. You can set a cap on bids for any keyword, ad group or campaign that is using this strategy, but if you do not set one AdWords will adjust your bids to an amount that will earn you the most clicks.

You should apply this strategy when you want to get the most clicks to your site for your target spend amount. A time you wouldn’t want to use this is when you have strict ROI or CPA goals.

Target Search Page Location

Want Google to change your bids so you will be on the first page of results, or even the top of the page? The Target Search Page Location option will automatically raise or lower your bids to show your ad at the top of the page or on the first page of the Google search results. This strategy only works for the Google Search Network. Once applied, it will only take a few minutes for your bids to start being changed by Google and can (and will) be updated several times a day. To set the initial bid amount you can do one of two things: you can opt for the automated approach and have Google set the bid and adjust for you, or set the bid yourself and then have Google adjust the bid for you.

Keep in mind – this doesn’t guarantee placement on the top of page or ad position on the first page of results. This strategy will attempt to achieve your target location, but final placement is going to be decided by the results of the ad auction.

This strategy gives you the option to show on the top of the first search results page or anywhere on the first search results page. If you are using the top of first page search results, Google will raise your bid to fit the top-of-page bid estimate. If you utilize the option to show anywhere on the first page, it will use the first page bid adjustment. To gain more insight into how Google will raise your bids, you can check to see what your first page and top-of-page bid estimates are in AdWords.

When using Target Search Page Location, you can set bid adjustments, in addition to mobile, location, day and time of day. You can also adjust your top-of-page or first page bids. This means you can actually bid a percentage of your first page or top-of-page bid estimate. You also have the ability to set a Max CPC bid limit and cap your bids. Setting these limits is important to ensure that you’re not spending more per click than you want to (from a cost or CPA goal standpoint). You’re also going to want to make sure that you are not going to exhaust your budget too quickly by the increasing bid adjustments.

Target CPA

Target CPA may sound familiar as it is similar to optimize for conversions. This option allows you to set bids to achieve an average CPA across all ad groups and campaigns using this strategy. With this approach, some conversions may cost more than the target and some may cost less, but overall AdWords will try to keep your cost-per-conversion equal to the target.

Keep in mind – this strategy sets bid adjustments to reach your target CPA, superseding other bid adjustments you’ve set (except where you’ve set a mobile bid adjustment of -100%).

While Google may recommend not setting a minimum or maximum CPC bid limit, it may be in your best interest to do so, as you do want to make sure that your CPC bids aren’t going to be too high. Yes, Google will set your bids within your target CPA, but if you set a bid limit you can also help ensure that you are not going to be having high CPC bids and that you are instead getting the most out of your budget. Setting a minimum bid limit will help make sure that your bids aren’t too low and that you will stay competitive.

Bid limits give you more control and restrict how AdWords automates your bids.

There are two requirements to apply this strategy:

• You need at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days (the more data you have, the better Google can help to set bid adjustments)
• Your ad group or campaign has received conversions at a similar rate for at least a few days

Enhanced CPC

Enhanced CPC helps you bid more effectively to maximize conversions. You can set your own max CPC bids for each keyword, and from here, AdWords will adjust your bids depending on what it believes is the likelihood of the click leading to a conversion. ECPC will only raise your bid up to 30% and can lower it as much as 100%. Google looks at real-time data to make your bids more effective, such as device, browser, location, and time of day when adjusting your bids during each ad auction.

Target Return on Ad Spend

Target Return on Ad Spend uses the conversion value you set when you set up your conversion tracking. If you haven’t set up your conversion value, you can do so in the Tools tab under Conversions.

Once this is done, AdWords will set the max CPC bid to maximize your conversion value. At the same time, AdWords will be trying to achieve an average return on Ad Spend that is equal to your target.

So, these are the AdWords flexible bid strategies that Google has to offer. If you’re a WordStream customer and you think that one might be right for you, contract your CS rep – we’ll be more than happy to give you more details and help you get up and running.

One thing I’ve learned from clients I’ve spoken to who are using different flexible bidding strategies is that you have be careful and really know what you’re doing. I’ve seen quite a few clients who have enabled a strategy and seen more spend in AdWords, yet the amount of conversions has stayed the same and the quality of the conversions had not changed.

Flexible bidding strategies will work differently than bidding rules, but with similar outcomes – Google will have more control over your PPC bid management (in some cases all control), so it pays to tread carefully.

Are you using flexible bid strategies in AdWords? Let us know in the comments!

Top image via Barry Silver

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

It’s no secret that there’s little love lost between Google and Facebook, even to those outside the Valley. Google proved this once again today by announcing it has expanded access to +Post ads to all advertisers and that these ads will support Google Hangouts on Air.

What Are Google +Post Ads?

Google first announced +Post ads in December, billing them as a new format of ad that brands can use to drive engagement across multiple platforms. Simply put, +Post ads are pieces of content from brands’ Google Plus profiles, such as videos and photos, which are repurposed into ads to be served across the Google Display Network.

What’s the Big Deal?

In the official blog post announcing the rollout, Google highlighted some examples of how advertisers have used +Post ads to drive user engagement.

One of the more interesting examples was Toyota USA, which used +Post ads to promote the 2014 Corolla to a younger audience – a demographic that can be tough for car manufacturers to crack. By incorporating video into the +Post ad, Toyota USA reported 50% more engagement with the +Post ad than traditional advertisements.

How Do +Post Ads Drive Engagement?

In another example, Google illustrated how British fashion retailer ASOS incorporated a Hangout on Air into its +Post ad to promote a sale. Users could shop for items before, during and after the Hangout, and since the event was promoted live in a +Post ad, 71% of viewers who attended the Hangout came from the +Post ad.

Another cool feature of +Post ads’ integration with Hangouts on Air is that users can RSVP to a Hangout and view recordings of them if they miss the live event – all from the +Post ad itself.

How Do You Create +Post Ads?

To create +Post ads, you have to meet a few requirements:

• Your Google+ profile has to have a minimum of 1,000 followers
• You have to opt-in to shared endorsements for Google+ pages
• The content you want to turn into a +Post ad must be relevant to your audience

If you meet these requirements, you can make a +Post ad. I went through the process just now.

First, in AdWords, create a new Display Network Only campaign:

Set your device targeting options and daily budget and continue. Next you just choose Google+ Ad Template as shown here:

The final step is to choose which Google+ page to display, once you've done that, it will ask you to pick a recent post to promote. By default it loads your most recent post as shown here:

Alternatively, you can also choose a different post to promote, like this:

(It appears that I ought to be posting more updates to the WordStream Google+ account...)

For more information, check out the official +Post ad creation page.

What Does This Have to Do with Facebook?

With Facebook slowly turning the thumbscrews on brands that have enjoyed relatively inexpensive access to the social networks’ vast user base until very recently, Facebook ads are going to be The Next Big Thing in social – and Google knows it.

Rather than take a backseat to the enormous potential of social advertising, Google is attempting to capitalize on its own social platform in a way that makes sense to brands advertising across the GDN. Whether this will make Google Plus more attractive to users is another matter entirely, but the announcement demonstrates that Google is taking social advertising very seriously.

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Have you ever done a super-specific search for an obscure item on Google and been shocked to see an ad that is offering—to a tee—exactly what you are looking for? If so, there’s a good chance that the advertiser was using a strategy known as Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI). DKI allows you to customize your ad to match the user’s search query, thus creating a more specific, highly targeted ad that perfectly matches the searcher’s intent. To do this, the advertiser can create a generic ad that contains the dynamic keyword insertion formula. When Google serves this ad, it will substitute the keyword that triggered the auction for the formula in the ad.

For example, if an advertiser implemented the ad text above and their ad was triggered by the search term “german chocolate cupcakes,” this ad would be displayed:

Pretty cool, huh? Well, there’s actually a bit of controversy among PPC experts as to how good this strategy is for your account performance. WordStream’s founder, Larry Kim, recently spoke at the SMX West conference and shared his two cents on DKI. According to Larry, DKI is a “good, not great” strategy for PPC advertisers. His research shows that ads with DKI can be relatively successful, but the majority of the truly top-notch ads do not include DKI. Instead, these “unicorns” appear in ad groups that are highly targeted with custom written ad text.

Personally, I think the effectiveness of dynamic keyword insertion is purely situational. In this post, I’ll break down the good, the bad and the ugly of dynamic keyword insertion, to help you understand its ideal (and not so ideal) use cases.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion: The Good

Let’s start by looking on the bright side. In the right circumstances, Dynamic Keyword Insertion can work wonders for an account. Here are a few of the pros of DKI:

Quick and painless implementation

For busy, overworked advertisers, DKI can be a huge time saver. For example, imagine a campaign for an e-commerce site that sells printer ink. When it comes to ink, users tend to search for the specific SKU number that fits in their printer. Since they have super-specific needs, they are looking for ads that match these needs. Therefore, if an advertiser serves a generic ad, the searcher is unlikely to click. On the flipside, e-commerce ink stores may sell hundreds of variations of ink and it is challenging to create an ad group for every SKU number.

Voila! This advertiser is a perfect fit for DKI.  

Bolded keywords in ad copy

If a user’s search query is present within an ad displayed on the SERP, Google will bold those words within the ad text.

This benefits searchers, because they can easily find ads that are targeted to what they’re looking for. It is also hugely helpful for advertisers, because it draws attention to their ads, even if they have a lower ad rank. This occurs frequently when advertisers are using DKI and in turn, advertisers tend to experience high click-through rates with these ads.

Ads with DKI can potentially exceed character limitations

Ever catch an ad with 26 characters in the headline, rather than 25? The first few times I saw headlines that didn’t fit within Google’s strict character limitations, I was confounded. Finally, I realized that the commonality was that they were all using DKI. With DKI, Google tends to be a little more lax with their rules, benefitting advertisers using long-tail keywords. Keep in mind that this is not a guarantee—think of it as an added bonus feature you may get when using DKI!

Dynamic Keyword Insertion: The Bad

Dynamic Keyword Insertion doesn’t always yield award-winning ads. Here are a few circumstances that can lead to less-than-stellar ad copy:

Generic ads for long-tail keywords

If your ad group mainly consists of long-tail keywords, chances are you should not go the DKI route. When your keyword does not fit in your ad within AdWords’ preset character limits (give or take a few characters, as explained above), your substitute text will be displayed instead. In this case, DKI falls by the wayside and your searchers will be subject to generic ads.

DKI fatigue

Although most advertisers only implement DKI in the headline of their ad text, Google permits its use in any line of ad text. In an effort to create hyper-custom messaging, some advertisers like to use DKI multiple times in one ad. This is a dangerous practice, as it can result in repetitive, spammy ads like the one pictured above.

Appearing for Irrelevant Keywords

As you can see in the PPC faux pas below, you’ll find yourself in hot water if you’re using DKI and bidding on keywords that are not relevant to your business.

As you review your keyword lists, truly assess whether each keyword is pertinent to your offering. I like to ask myself, if I was searching for this keyword, what would my intent be? If it doesn’t align with my offering, I don’t bid on it. Also, keep an eye out for any keywords that you may have mistakenly added, just like those shown in the image above.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion: The Ugly

Sometimes mishaps encountered with Dynamic Keyword Insertion can be just plain ugly. Here are some painfully embarrassing scenarios we’ve encountered from advertisers using DKI:

Using the wrong DKI code

Sadly, we catch advertisers making this mistake all of the time.

For DKI to function properly, it is critical that you use the proper formula: {KeyWord: Substitute Text}. In this case, the advertiser used “DKI” rather than “KeyWord” so Google did not swap in the keyword, resulting in a nonsensical title. Other common coding mishaps are using brackets [], rather than braces {} or adding a space between KeyWord and the colon. Any of these minute mistakes can lead to disastrous ads like the one pictured above.

Displaying misspelled keywords

There’s nothing wrong with bidding on misspelled keywords. In fact, we actually encourage advertisers to do this, as they can sometimes be cheaper and less competitive than the actual terms. However, one should be mindful to never include misspelled keywords in ad groups with DKI ads, as the misspelled keyword could appear within the ad text.

This makes for a terrible first impression and may discourage searchers from clicking on the ad.

Violating AdWords Trademark Policy

When it comes to setting trademarked terms as keywords, anything is fair game. However, Google restricts the use of trademarked terms in ad copy. This introduces a major problem for advertisers who are bidding on competitors’ branded terms and using DKI.

To avoid this, try putting competitors’ terms in separate ad groups with non-DKI ads.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion Best Practices

So, now that you’ve been warned about the pitfalls of DKI, here are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind to ensure you are implementing it properly:

Follow the appropriate format to ensure Google swaps your keywords into the right places.

Remember that you can control the capitalization of words in the dynamic text, by changing the way “keyword” appears in the DKI code. Here are some examples to keep in mind:

keyword = german chocolate cupcakes

Keyword = German chocolate cupcakes

KeyWord = German Chocolate Cupcakes

If you have a number of long-tail keywords in the ad group, be smart with your substitute text. Ensure that it is highly relevant to the ad group, so you can still capture the attention of the searcher.

Most importantly, remember that the best way to assess whether Dynamic Keyword Insertion is benefitting you is to test your ad performance! We recommend always running at least two ads per ad group. To test whether DKI works for you, try running a split test with a standard ad against an ad using DKI. Monitor your click-through rates and conversion rates to determine whether DKI is doing the trick!

What has been your experience with Dynamic Keyword Insertion? Feel free to comment below!

Erin Sagin is a Customer Success Manager at WordStream. In addition to conducting software training and consulting calls for clients, she also helps to maintain our usability testing program. Originally from Western Maryland, Erin majored in International Studies with a concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean at Kenyon College. When she’s able to take a break from PPC, you’ll find her practicing her hula-hooping skills or planning her next trip to Latin America. You can follow Erin on Twitter and Google+.

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Like practically every topic of discussion on the internet, net neutrality is a subject that people either a) haven’t heard of and couldn’t care less about, or b) are rabidly passionate about and will die to defend (or so it seems in most site comment sections). But what is net neutrality anyway, and why should marketers care?

What is Net Neutrality?

Net neutrality is the concept that internet service providers (ISPs) should allow all types of traffic to travel across their networks without discrimination; that all sites and applications should be treated equally, and not subjected to traffic shaping, bandwidth throttling and other means of control that serve ISPs' commercial interests.

Here are five facts that marketers need to know about net neutrality and why it’s so important:

1. Net Neutrality is Information Freedom.

Imagine a world in which internet service providers didn’t just provide their customers with access to the web, but also controlled what pages they could see, what articles they could read, and what videos they could watch. This isn’t the bleak world envisioned in George Orwell’s disturbingly prescient “1984” – this is a world without net neutrality.

If net neutrality laws are not passed to protect the free and open web, ISPs like Comcast (which was recently named “The Worst Business in America” for the second time by The Consumerist) would effectively become arbiters of what you – and your customers – can see, when you can see it, and how much extra you’ll be expected to pony up to see it.

Unless neutrality laws are introduced, internet subscription packages could soon look a lot like this:

Unless the web remains free and open, the flow of information will no longer be democratic – it will be controlled, repackaged and sold at a premium, the way cable channels are today.

2. Net Neutrality is Consumer Choice

Let’s say you run a small business. You have a great product, satisfied customers, and you’re ready to grow by getting into paid search. You launch a PPC campaign, target high commercial intent keywords, write compelling ads, and have these ads point at highly optimized landing pages. Awesome!

…Until your prospective customers click on your ad and their ISP throttles bandwidth to your landing pages because you can’t afford to bribe their ISP enter into a “preferential service agreement.” Your landing pages take forever to load, and your conversion rates plummet. You’ve wasted time, money and effort – all because your larger competitors can afford sleazy backhanders.

Net neutrality is essential to consumer choice. If ISPs get to choose which sites are seen and when, millions of businesses – large and small alike – will suffer, and so will consumers.

Unless the web remains free and open, consumers will have one choice – their ISP’s.

3. Net Neutrality is a Level Playing Field

Content marketing has enabled businesses of all sizes to provide their customers with highly relevant content tailored to meet specific needs, and the open web has allowed countless bloggers to build huge audiences by sharing content that they’re passionate about. This will be impossible if ISPs and large telcos get their way.

The preferential treatment that ISPs could (and would) charge for will tip the scale in favor of huge media companies that can afford to pay for unrestricted access and screw over everyone else. What about family-owned businesses that run great blogs and rely on quality content as a marketing tool? What about startups that have built large audiences through niche content and specialized knowledge? What about the blogs that break the news stories mainstream media outlets are afraid to touch because they’re owned by the same conglomerates as the ISPs? Nope, nope and nope. Oh, and forget about video marketing – unless you have bottomless coffers to pay the gatekeepers, it’s not going to happen.

Unless the web remains free and open, content marketing as we know it will be finished.

4. Net Neutrality is Innovation

Many of Silicon Valley’s biggest players have humble beginnings. Internet marketing’s largest (and most profitable) advertising platforms, including Google and Facebook, were highly innovative ideas that the open internet helped grow and propagate. Without net neutrality, these and countless other technological success stories would likely never have materialized.

In addition to stifling innovation, the end of net neutrality would limit how marketing channels could evolve over time, limiting advertisers’ reach and making it increasingly difficult for marketers to adapt to changing consumer behavior. Of course, some of the major players could capitalize on these “new” discriminatory business models (a point ISP lobbyists have been pushing hard in Washington), but what about the little guys? Not so much.

Unless the web remains free and open, true innovation will slow to a crawl, costing businesses and the overall economy billions of dollars, and further tip the balance of power in favor of the ISPs.

5. Net Neutrality is Already in Danger

For many marketers, net neutrality isn’t even an issue, let alone a problem deserving of real action or support. However, the free and open web is already under threat, and has been for years:

• In 2007, evidence came to light that Comcast was interfering with customers’ use of BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer services – whether for legal purposes or otherwise.
• Between 2007 and 2011, Canadian ISP Rogers engaged in discriminatory traffic shaping practices by reducing speeds of all encrypted traffic – including online gaming and other perfectly legal services.
• In January, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Federal Communications Commission had overstepped its authority in banning ISPs from throttling traffic as part of its proposed Open Internet Order– a severe blow to net neutrality.
• In February, Netflix agreed to pay Comcast an undisclosed sum to ensure that its streaming video content reaches consumers more quickly after months of being throttled – paving the way for similar deals.
• In February – a very bad month for net neutrality – Comcast (the country’s largest cable and internet provider) announced plans it wants to merge with Time Warner Cable (the country’s second-largest). This proposed merger would create a towering monopolistic behemoth, the likes of which have never been seen, further consolidating Comcast’s considerable power and severely reducing consumer choice.

Make no mistake – the war for information freedom is being waged as we speak. Unless action is taken, we’re one step closer to a future in which the mighty few control the information of the many.

Net Neutrality Must Be Saved

It doesn’t matter what type of marketer you are, or what kinds of campaigns you’re running; paid search, SEO, display advertising, social media – it all hinges on preventing the ISPs from becoming the uncontested gatekeepers of our information.

Image credit: Steve Rhodes via Flickr

What You Can Do to Save Net Neutrality

It might seem as though there’s nothing you – the person reading this post – can do. However, that’s not the case. There are plenty of ways you can make your voice heard, preserve net neutrality, protect your job, and save your clients’ campaigns:

• Sign a petition against the Comcast/TWC merger
• Sign the petition for the FCC to rework the Open Internet Order
• Sign the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Declaration of Internet Freedom
• Phone or email your Congressional representative to call for strong net neutrality laws
• Spread the word on your social networks that net neutrality is a Big Deal and will affect everyone online

Image credit: ZDNet

Search marketers are sometimes accused of being reactionary and waiting to see what everyone else does before taking action. Don’t let this happen. Without net neutrality, search and internet marketing will be changed forever – and the results won’t be pretty.

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Take a look at your text ads and tell me if they are designed to sell. Do you have a well-written ad description, a strong offer and a compelling call to action? Many PPC managers create their text ads to match the title with the query and bring people to the right landing page. And that’s a great starting point, but is it enough?

In many instances when we look at ads, we see the same generic or simple text written in the ad descriptions. Over the last few years we’ve changed the ad descriptions for hundreds of ads and we’ve seen a dramatic improvement in click-through rates, even when the ads were at the bottom of the search results.

When people search for a product or a service, they can see up to three ads at the top and eight ads at the side, together with the organic results and snippets such as maps, videos, or shopping results. The ad description could attract the visitor, but only if it’s well written. In fact, I use different strategies to capture people’s eyes and attention. No one will notice your ad if it says “We Provide Great Customer Support” or “Call Us for Help Now” because everybody writes the same boring descriptions and no one would ever say “don’t call me” or “we offer lousy service.”

Let’s search for a random query and see who wins and who loses in the ad description department. I searched for “shoes on sale”:

Seriously Sears? I would buy this ad description if the Macy’s ad said “Shop at Macy’s for No Savings on Shoes.” And what up with “Buy Online and Save Today!” anyway? This is the kind of “bold” statement that probably stopped working back in 1998.

With all respect to Zappos, I can tell that they use the same generic ad descriptions because comma separated “occasions” would never add any value or increase sales.

And here is the winner:

Shoe Dazzle created an ad with the price, discount, and dollar, percentage and plus signs. The ad serves its main purpose – to sell! I would add an exclamation point and stronger call to action, but still, great job!

How to Write a Killer Ad Description for a Text Ad: Dos & Don’ts

Remember in the old days when we paid Yellow Pages to make an ad bolder, bigger, stronger, juicier? Yellow Pages used to provide the data on how many more calls you would get if you made your ad stand out. Well, today you can enhance your ad on Google at no cost. There are many ways to make your description more noticeable, but first, here are some no-no’s!

• Avoid generic ad descriptions i.e. “We Are the Top Service Provider”
• Avoid annoying corporate jargon like “Streamline Your Business With Us”
• Avoid unnecessary keyword insertions “Sale on Discount Furniture on Sale”
• Avoid lazy descriptions like “In Stock Now at Example.com”

Now here are some tips for what you should do when writing AdWords text ad descriptions.

Use $ and % signs to show the offer and capture attention.

• Save Now Up To 25% Off Shoes!
• Get Instant $25 Discount on Shoes!

No discounts? People still like numbers.

• 24/7 Support. We Deliver in 5 Days.
• 1000s Designer Shoes as Low as $75.

Evergreen Sales:

• Sale This Week - Get up to 75% Off!
• Buy Today and Save $50 Instantly!

Google doesn’t allow the use of ALL CAPS but there are always ways around it! (Hint: Abbreviations)

• Get Up To 40% Off MSRP Today!
• Shoe Store, A+ BBB Accredited!
• Up To 40% Off MSRP - Coupon: SAVE40

Use coupon codes!

• To Save 20% Use the Coupon: SALE20
• Exclusive 20% Coupon Offer: SAVE-20

Signs and special characters will attract attention:

• Ranked 4*& 5* Stars, A+ on BBB!
• Example™ - Sale on “Amazing” Styles!

Call to action, Go for It!

• Get Up to 70% Off If You Buy Now!
• 20%-80% Off. Get a Deal Today!

Show the Advantage:

• Why Pay Full Price? Save Up To 70%
• 30% Off + Price Match Guarantee!

Need a real example?

Now take a look at the search results for popular queries in your industry and try to find the most noticeable ad. I hope it’ll be your ad after reading this blog post!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

We talk about optimizing landing pages a lot here at WordStream, but how do you go about building a landing page in the first place? You need something to optimize before you can start optimizing! There are many ways to go about building a landing page, from rolling your sleeves up and diving into coding one with HTML, CSS and JavaScript to using web services that allow you to customize landing page templates.

In today’s post, you’ll learn how to build landing pages from the ground up and see which option is right for you. By the end of this post, you’ll be ready to start building a landing page that will drive conversions. Unless it looks like the one above, in which case you’ll probably want to rethink your life choices.

Building a Landing Page the ‘Hard’ Way

Before we dive into the nitty gritty of building a landing page from scratch, let’s get one thing out of the way – yes, HTML, CSS and other web technologies have a learning curve. However, learning how to code web pages isn’t the same as programming an app, building a supercomputer or breathing (artificial) life into a murderous robot intent on world domination. It takes time and effort to learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but it’s not as difficult as you might think.

First, let’s look at each of these web technologies and what they do.

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, is the “language” of the web. Note that HTML isn’t a programming language, but a markup language (as its name implies) that is used to define the content and structure of web pages. Let’s take a look.

Image credit: Mozilla Developer Network

See how the content and structure of the page are defined by the code?

The basics of HTML are beyond the scope of this post, but there are several excellent resources on the web that can help you learn. Some of the best are:

• Codecademy (free interactive coding exercises on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and more)
• Treehouse (extensive video library, free trial, monthly subscription)
• Mozilla Developer Network (free text-based tutorials on various web technologies, including HTML)
• HTML Dog (more tutorials with plenty of code examples)

CSS

HTML defines the content and structure of web pages, while Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) define how web pages look. Style sheets are referred to as cascading because changes made to a top-level style sheet can “cascade” throughout the entirety of a site, allowing you to make wide-scale changes to the appearance of your site by adjusting the code of a single style sheet. 

In the past, CSS code was inserted directly into HTML documents, but this isn’t a best practice – sure, it’ll work, but don’t get into bad habits. Keep your CSS and HTML code separate.

Here’s an example of what CSS code looks like:

Again, we’re not going to get into properties, values, selectors and declarations here, but there are plenty of resources to help you get up to speed, including the sites listed in the HTML section above.

To get an idea of how powerful CSS can be, check out Dave Shea’s CSS Zen Garden. Although it might be hard to believe, each of the example styles you’ll see there are applied to the exact same HTML code. Pretty cool, right? By making changes to your landing page’s CSS, you can experiment with radically different designs without having to go back and manually adjust the HTML of every page.

JavaScript

So, you’ve created a functional (and achingly beautiful) landing page – now you need to add some interactivity. This is crucial for landing pages, as you want your prospective customers to actually do something, whether it’s download a whitepaper or request a sales call. This is accomplished through calls to action powered by JavaScript.

JavaScript is a “real” programming language, but it’s most commonly used as a client-side scripting language. Simply put, this means that JavaScript makes your browser do most of the work.

Here’s a snippet of JavaScript:

JavaScript can be used to add functionality to a web page, such as:

• Submit information to servers through web forms
• Create pop-up windows
• Authenticate user input such as login credentials
• Animate navigational elements…

If you’re serious about making your own landing page from scratch by hand, you’ll need some technical skill, but the rewards can be great. For one, you’ll have complete control over exactly how your page is structured, displayed and interacts with your servers. You also get major bragging rights for having designed and coded your page singlehandedly. Templates? We don’t need no stinkin’ templates!

Still, this approach is time-intensive for the coding newbie – not to mention a little intimidating. There has to be an easier way, right?

Building a Landing Page the Easy Way

So you need a landing page fast. What do you do? Use a template! Don’t feel bad, though – in many cases, this is the best way make a landing page.

There are plenty of sites where building a landing page is a breeze. We’re going to look at two of them – Unbounce and Wix.

Unbounce

The landing page at the top of this post was built from an existing template using Unbounce, which bills itself as “the landing page builder for marketers.”

One of the main benefits of using Unbounce is that it includes a range of functionality specifically aimed at people who are primary focused on conversions. Another advantage of using Unbounce is that you can A/B test two versions of a landing page to determine which is more effective at improving conversion rates– bonus!

Unbounce offers more than 80 templates for just about every type of landing page you could ever need, including product launches, email newsletter subscription pages, eBook downloads, online learning pages and more. I chose the “Click Through Minimalist Desktop Light” template for the example at the top of this post. You can also choose to start with a blank page and start with a clean slate if you’re feeling ambitious.

Let’s say you want to create a landing page for a lead-generation PPC campaign you’re running. The “York” template is a great place to start for this type of page.

Unbounce allows you to adjust every single element of the template to suit your needs. You can change copy, use different fonts, switch out images and even move entire elements wherever you like. In just a few minutes, I was able to come up with this variation:

It’s not terribly well-designed, but that’s not the point – this quick and dirty redesign took less than 10 minutes to throw together and required zero coding. Imagine what you could do in a few hours!

Overall, Unbounce is an excellent platform for building a landing page. It’s not free (pricing starts at $49 per month for entrepreneurs and new businesses), but you can sign up for a free trial to start getting your hands dirty.

Wix

Whereas Unbounce is aimed specifically at marketers hoping to drive conversions, Wix is a bit more general purpose.

Wix offers a range of templates to start from, categorized by type of business and industry. For this example, let’s say you run an e-commerce site specializing in handmade arts and crafts.

Once you’ve selected your business type, you’ll be presented with a range of templates designed with your type of business in mind. These are some of the templates for online craft and hobby stores.

Now it’s time to start customizing your page. I chose the “Lil Pillow Shop” template because I’d secretly love a pillow with a video game console controller on it. Shame my cat would probably destroy it – this is why I can’t have nice things.

Wix offers some customization options, though not nearly as many as Unbounce. Of course, if you don’t need to tinker with every last page element, this may serve your needs just fine.

One of the biggest drawbacks to Wix is that many of the templates can’t really be considered landing pages, as many of them lack calls to action, forms and other elements your landing pages really need to have.

Something else Wix lacks that many marketers and business owners will find frustrating is the inability to add custom forms and other elements to a page – if it’s not there to begin with, you’re out of luck. This could be particularly irritating if you find a template you really like but lacks the functionality you need.

Overall, Wix is a great service for small businesses that need a web presence quickly, but for building a landing page it leaves a lot to be desired.

Notable Mentions

Of course, Unbounce and Wix are far from the only tools that can help you build a landing page. Other notable mentions include:

• SquareSpace (strong analytics support, domain registration, hosting services)
• Moonfruit (responsive designs built in HTML5, e-commerce-friendly)
• Weebly (drag-and-drop UI, analytics support, low monthly pricing)

Bear in mind, though, that while each of these services makes building a landing page easy, they might not offer the functionality you need, especially if you’re planning to create landing pages with highly specific calls to action that will compliment your PPC efforts.

If You’re a WordStream Customer …

Of course, it would be remiss to talk about building a landing page without mentioning WordStream’s Landing Pages and Leads. Built into our PPC Advisor software platform, Landing Pages and Leads enables you to quickly and easily create landing pages that are highly optimized and connect directly with your existing AdWords account. We provide a range of templates, and our easy-to-use customization options enable you to build a landing page that adheres to best practices with zero hassle. We even host the pages for you!

Get started with your PPC Advisor free trial today!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Google is making a big announcement on Tuesday, April 22 (yep, that's TOMORROW). They will announce 10+ new AdWords products, features, and research studies that they have been working on for the past year.

Last year, we were the first to bring you complete coverage of Enhanced Campaigns, the biggest change to the AdWords ecosystem in the last decade. This Wednesday, we’ll be holding a free, live webinar to clue you in on this new announcement and what it means for your AdWords campaigns.

The moment the embargo is lifted, we’ll start bringing live coverage of the announcement plus actionable advice on how it will affect your account and how to take advantage of the changes.

There’s been plenty of speculation so far on what those changes might entail. We’ve seen what people are saying, and although we can’t talk specifics right now, we can tell you that Google has some awesome stuff planned for AdWords.

If you want to retain your competitive edge, let WordStream tell you how to leverage the new features being announced by Google. Register for our free webinar now and you’ll be among the first to understand the true impact of these changes and how to prepare for them.

Are you ready for the announcement? Watch this space all week for more updates, and see you at the webinar on Wednesday!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Today's the day: Google finally spilled the beans about the new features that are coming to AdWords. (Protip: sign up for our webinar tomorrow for an in-depth look at the changes and how they'll affect you!) Now we can finally tell you what they actually announced. Here’s our take on this exciting news.

New AdWords Features Overview

Before we get into the specifics of the new AdWords features, I wanted to provide you with an overview of the key points about these planned improvements. I recently spoke with Aaron Stein, Google’s Global Communications and Public Affairs Manager, who told me that:

• These features will be entirely optional, unlike last year’s mandatory (read: “destructive”) Enhanced Campaigns update.
• Also, unlike last year’s EC update, no existing features are being retired as a result of these new features.
• The new features will be rolled out over the course of “several months”.
• Rather than larger-scale “event launches,” deployment of these new features will most likely be done on an incremental, piecemeal basis.

Now, let’s talk specifics.

AdWords Introduces New Enterprise-Class Tools

When we first heard about Google’s plans for its “enterprise-level tools,” we thought that AdWords was just appeasing its largest advertisers by rolling out a series of features that would let them spend even more money. Google told me that despite their name, these enterprise-class tools would actually be available to all advertisers and won’t be restricted to businesses of a certain size or annual ad spend. And these new tools look really awesome.

Soon, all businesses running numerous campaigns (whether a few dozen or several thousand) will be able to take advantage of:

• Bulk actions - Make bulk edits like location targeting, ad rotation etc.
• Automated bidding - Soon advertisers will be able to set up automated bidding to either maximize conversions or maximize revenues. Google notes that this was "once only available in third-party tools."
• Enhanced reporting - Google is also introducing some cool advanced reporting features, essentially Excel for AdWords. We'll have access to visualization tools and drag-and-drop pivot tables. Instead of moving data over into Excel for manipulation, you'll be able to create reporting with live data. This is pretty awesome.
• “Your Own Lab” - Similar to AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE), this new feature allows you to make changes in "draft mode" so you can see, based on real data, what effect changes would have on your campaigns, in order to make more data-driven decisions.

Here are some screenshots of what the new reporting features will look like:

Bulk actions in AdWords

Drag and drop reporting interface

Data visualization tools

Draft mode in AdWords (this one via Manish Barmecha, our VP of Product, who was at the live event)

Key Takeaways: With this announcement Google is apparently going after enterprise AdWords platforms like Kenshoo and Marin. For the first time, they’re offering enterprise-level features previously only available in third-party platforms. It will be interesting to see if enterprise companies can get by using AdWords alone down the line. It's also surely evidence that AdWords Editor really is going away.

AdWords Doubles Down on Mobile App Marketing

Google chose to lead with the announcements related to Mobile App marketing. However, they said, "it’s not really about mobile, it’s about consumers." The mobile app economy was pegged at $29.5 billion last year by Gartner, which is huge and so naturally, companies are looking for ways to promote their apps in a crowded app store.

Google has previously done some work here, for example, acquiring the AdMob network made promoting apps easier, and last year they rolled out a helpful App Promotion Ad format. Today, Google hopes to make spreading the word about your app even easier through several exciting new features:

• Better Targeting: AdWords advertisers will be able to reach prospective customers based on the type of apps they have on their mobile devices, how frequently they use these apps, their in-app purchases, and their app download history. For example, if you exercise regularly and use an app to measure how far you run, you might see an ad for an app that helps you measure the foods you eat and calories consumed.
• Way More Ad Impressions: You’ll start seeing App Promotion Ads while browsing YouTube videos on mobile, which should greatly increase the ad inventory for this ad unit, since 40% of YouTube views, are on mobile.
• Better Re-Engagement: According to Google, 80% of downloaded apps are used only once and then deleted. Lots of businesses are able to get their apps onto a device, but might never see their customer again. To combat this lack of app engagement, Google is enabling search ads that push consumers directly into already-installed apps.
• App Analytics Measurement: In AdWords you’ll soon be able to measure conversions across the entire lifecycle of the app - from install to re-engagement to in-app purchases.

I asked Google several questions regarding about this major App Marketing push in AdWords:

• How does the new app marketing targeting work? How does Google know what apps I’ve installed? They confirmed to me that no new identifiers have been developed (e.g.: no new mobile cookies), and compared this new technology to how existing organic search indexing allows performed on the organic side to deep link directly into Android apps.
• What about iOS apps? Google says that these features would be implemented on an “Android-first,” not “Android-only” basis. This means that apps in the Google Play Store will initially be prioritized over those on the App Store, but that Google isn’t eliminating this functionality from iOS apps entirely – hardly surprising.

Key Takeaways: Google is trying to be a trailblazer in the app space – they know apps are where it’s at in mobile, and this positions them at the front of the industry in terms of ad targeting and analytics for mobile apps. They also want to make it easier for users to find, download and engage with apps, since they might not always know that an app is what they need. (AKA, apps are just answers, just like ads.)

Estimated Total Conversions

Google also promised to continue investment in and development of the Estimated Total Conversions features of AdWords.

Details about what this “continued investment” actually involves are still scarce. All Google would say is that there is nothing new to announce regarding the development of non-estimated ways to measure the ROI of mobile ad campaigns – a move that will no doubt delight the naysayers who have derided Estimated Total Conversions from the beginning, but keep in mind that they’re working on interesting ways to follow potential customers in the offline world.

Key Takeaways: Advertisers have been paranoid about Google taking away their toys. The reality is this announcement is no big deal – Google is offering some cool new features, but they aren’t taking anything away like they did with Enhanced Campaigns last year.

Finally, don’t forget to register for tomorrow’s webinar, where we’ll tell you exactly how these changes will affect your campaigns and how to take advantage of these new features.

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

If you’re like me, you’re checking Gmail constantly. Despite how much time you spend on Gmail, I bet that good old Google Mail is still holding out a few secrets on you! Well we’re blowing its cover and showing you some of the most valuable Gmail tips and tricks to make your email checking a bit easier.

Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts

Did you know you can use a number of Gmail keyboard shortcuts from within Google Gmail? Some general Word shortcuts apply so that when you’re composing messages, you can use Gmail shortcut keys like:

Ctrl + b | Make your text bold.

Ctrl + i | Make your text italicized.

Ctrl + u | Make your text underlined.

Ctrl + Shift + 7 | Create a numbered list.

Ctrl + Shift + 8 | Create a bulleted list.

Ctrl + k | Insert a hyperlink for highlighted text.

 (Note: For Gmail keyboard shortcuts with Mac, simply substitute Ctrl for ⌘)

Check out the full list of Gmail keyboard shortcuts.

More Gmail Shortcut Keys (Just Turn 'em On)

Not handy enough for ya? We’ve got more Gmail shortcut keys, but you need to switch them on manually first. Just hit the gear icon in the upper right corner and select settings. Head to “keyboard shortcuts,” switch them on, then scroll down and hit “Save Changes” at the bottom.

c | Lets you compose a new message. Shift + c composes a message in a new window.

d | Compose a message in a new tab

f | Forward a message

e | Archive a message

# | Delete a message

/ | Do a Gmail email search

Shift + i | Mark as read

Shift + u | Mark as unread

Ctrl + s | Save draft

Gmail Email Search Strings

How awesome is that Gmail search bar? Sure, you can search keywords to filter through your massive collection of emails, but you can do a lot more with it than that.

Take full advantage of the search bar with these tips below. In the Gmail search bar, try typing in:

From: | Search all messages from a specific sender

To: | Search all messages sent to a specific recipient

OR | Search all messages with term A or B. OR must be in all caps.

In:anywhere | Search all messages anywhere in Gmail (including Trash and Spam which are normally excluded).

Is:starred | Search all starred messages

Is:unread | Search all unread messages

Has:Attachment | Search all messages with attachments. This search is great for clearing up space by finding and deleting messages with hefty file attachments.

After: | Search messages sent or received after a specific date

Before: | Search messages sent or received before a specific date. Combine before and after for further precision:

Older_than: / newer_than: | Similar to above, but instead of exact dates you can use days (d), months (m) or years (y).

There are tons more strings you can search using “in:” “is:” and “has:” – see them all.

Best Gmail Hacks: 15 Bonus Gmail Tips

1. Those Dots are Meaningless!

Believe it or not – veronica.mars@gmail.com is the same thing as ver.on.ica.mar.s@gmail.com OR veronicamars@gmail.com– all these address variations can be used for a single email address. Pretty awesome!

2. The Undo Button

 We’ve all wished life had an undo button – for those awkward responses that blurted out of your mouth, for that bus you could have caught if you had ran just a smidge faster, for that stray hand that knocked your coffee all over your keyboard. Well life has just been upgraded – turns out there is an undo button. Well, it’s only for Gmail, but it’s a start.

Activate the “Undo” button by clicking the Gear Icon in the upper right corner, going to Settings, and then heading over to the Labs tab. A few options down you’ll see the ability to enable Gmail’s undo button. There’s a ton of other awesome stuff in GLabs, which we’ll be exploring in some of our other Gmail hacks below.

You can choose your cancellation period – I do 30 secs as a wide safety net

3. Super Stars!

Most of you probably know about Google’s yellow star that you can use to mark important emails. Don’t stop there though – head over to settings and see the 12 different stars and symbols you can use to designate value in your Gmail inbox.

4. Density

Feeling a little claustrophobic in Google Mail? Here’s a nice Gmail secret - change your Gmail’s spacing by hitting that little ol’ gear icon and changing the density. Choose what feels right for you!

Cozy as a cuddle by the fire in a log cabin. And it’s snowing.

5. Canned Responses

When you’re sending out the same e-mail a bunch of times, make it easy on yourself with canned responses. First, turn on the Canned Responses feature in Gmail Labs. Now just write your email and click the extra drop down bit on the bottom of your message, beside the trash can. Go to Canned Responses and click New Canned Response to name and save your canned response.

Now, next time you go to compose a new email, go to canned responses and you’ll see the option to insert your saved canned response.

As you can see, I already have a canned response for apartment hunting, as I end up sending the same response (blurb about myself, what I’m looking for in an apartment, when I am available to stop by and see it) multiple times. Once a canned response in inserted, any personalization needed can be added to the template before sending it off.

The ability to create canned responses is a very cool Gmail secret that you probably won’t use most days, but when you do need it, you’ll be glad it’s there.

6. Desktop Notifications

Gmail desktop notifications let you instantly know when you’ve received a new email via a pop-up. This sweet little feature is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, and can be activated under Settings> General.

7. Mute Conversations

Tired of watching your co-workers jabber on about things that don’t apply to you? Not a problem with Google Gmail’s ability to mute conversations.

With your conversation open, just go to More, and select Mute. Now that conversation won’t pop back up to your attention unless a new message is addressed just to you, or if you’re added to the To: or CC: fields.

8. Archiving Emails

Archiving emails is a great way to keep your Inbox clean without deleting emails, letting you appear a normal, healthy internet user while secretly hoarding a decade collection of old emails. It’s the perfect tool for online spring cleaning!  

For example, my Gmail “social” tab is pretty flooded – it’s mostly messages about Meetup groups I’m a part of, or upcoming events. I don’t want to unsubscribe to these emails because there’s a chance that someday I really will go to the Wednesday African Drum Circle at the MFA. However, I’m getting waaay too many emails from these sorts of things. Here’s what I can do for a quick Gmail inbox clean up.

I’m going to use our search string from earlier to select all emails in my Social tab that are older than 6 days.

BONUS TIP: Clicking the Select All box (the one highlighted in pink below) only selects all the emails shown on that page. To select all emails that match your search, click the link that appears in the pop up (highlighted in blue).

Now that I have all the emails that match my search string selected, I can just hit the Archive button. Goodbye old emails! Ah, that feels better already.

9. Send + Archive: Goodbye Email Clutter

Send + Archive is the next step in super archiving power, letting you send an email and immediately archive it. This features needs to be turned on in the Settings menu before you can start using it.

Now when you reply to an email, you’ll see the option to Send + Archive.

This means that the email will be archived away, out of your Inbox. You can rest easy knowing that if someone replies to your archived email, it will reappear in your Inbox, delivered to your attention.

10. How to Find Archived Emails

The easiest way to find emails once you’ve archived them is to use the search string All Mail:  . You can also use the search drop down.

11. Gmail Offline

Did you know that you can read and reply to emails, even when offline? The Gmail Offline Chrome app syncs messages and queues actions you’ve taken offline to implement later, when internet access is available. Now you can be productive anywhere!

12. Gmail Email Tasks

Say goodbye to scribbled to-do lists on Post It notes. Gmail has its own built-in task list! Just open or select and email, click More, and hit Add to Tasks.

You’ll see your custom Gmail task list appear; from there you can add more tasks, add due dates, check off completed tasks, and more.

Start a task item with a date and the task will automatically be added to your Google Calendar (provided that you turn on the “task” calendar in the My Calendars section of Google Calendar. Gmail tasks is a great way to stay on top of daily to-dos.

13. Creating Custom Gmail Filters

Gmail filters can do a ton of email heavy lifting for you, if you’ll let them. Start by creating a filter from an existing message. I’ve been doing some apartment hunting lately, and have been sending out a lot of emails through Craigslist. Keeping all those messages organized is important to me, so I’ll make a filter for them.

First we’ll select an email to base my filter off of. Then we can head over to More >Filter messages like these.

Now it’s time to add the parameters of my filter. I’m going to keep this one simple – I’m going to create a filter for any emails that have the words “apartment” and “craigslist” in the subject line, since that’s the subject line I’ve been using for my apartment hunting emails.

Now it’s time to decide what action the filter will take. I’m going to have this filter add the label “Apartment Hunting” and star the email. And now we’re in business!

(Note: to edit existing Filters, go to Settings > Filters tab)

Another great and easy way to set up filters is with custom email aliases. You can add any +word to your user name and still have those messages delivered to your regular address.

For example, when I sign up for H&M offers, I can use the email address veronicamarrs+HM@gmail.com, but all the messages will still be delivered to veronicamarrs@gmail.com. Why is this helpful? Now when I create a custom filter, I can create an action for all messages from the address alias. For example, I might create a filter that adds a Fashion label to all messages addressed to veronicamarrs+HM@gmail.com. And that’s how to make a Gmail filter. It’s pretty easy to do and can make a HUGE difference when it comes to keeping your email organized.

14. See Messages Meant JUST For You

Personal level indicators are arrows next to your messages that show whether an email was sent directly to you (>>) or you and other recipients (>). It’s a nifty little Gmail trick you can activate in the Settings section (scroll about half way down the General tab).

15. Gmail Labels

Labels make it easy to keep your Gmail so fresh and so clean (clean, clean). Individual emails can have multiple labels – customize them with bright colors to keep track of what’s what.

People are often confused about how to add folders to Gmail, but Gmail doesn’t technically have folders. Instead, it has labels. Gmail labels can mark emails that live in your Inbox, and can also be used as folders. To move an email into a label folder, select or open an email and choose the Move To option to move the email into the label.

Extra Gmail Add-On Features

There are a lot of great applications that enable you to do some pretty remarkable stuff with Gmail. A few favorites include:

• Boomerang:Boomerang for Gmail lets you write and schedule emails to be sent at a later time or date. Boomerang can also set up email follow-up reminders for you, all built to be seamlessly compatible with Gmail.
• Rapportive:Rapportive is a great tool to help you instantly see all your contacts data right from within Gmail! You can see a user’s LinkedIn account, Twitter info, Facebook, Skype, and more!

Those are our best Gmail tips and tricks. May you make the most of your fabulous Gmail email!

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

For those of you not keeping up with the WordStream blog (shame on you!), you might have missed the awesome Grade and Get Paid contest we ran in late 2013. I won’t bore you with all the details, but as a quick summary, marketers were invited to use the AdWords Performance Grader twice to see how their PPC performance improved over a 30-day time period.

I’m proud to brag that my fabulous client GetOutfitted stole the prize and took home the Olympic gold! When I say gold I’m referring to a rainbow-wrapped PPC gift basket of $25K to spend in Google AdWords for 2014, plus a one-year subscription for WordStream’s PPC Advisor software to help Kristi Anderson, VP of Marketing at Get Outfitted, spend this budget to maximize sales.

Even though this was not included in the prize details (big mistake), Kristi also received me! I’ve made myself available to provide a plethora of PPC support for her account this year.

GetOutfitted is an innovative startup that rents ski clothing and accessories for free doorstep delivery. Their prices are reasonable, brands are quality, and customers are happy – what’s not to love! The small Colorado business has seen tremendous growth, but similar to several of my clients in the startup world they face some common PPC challenges, including:

• A limited budget
• A small staff (which inevitably leads to…)
• Limited time to spend in AdWords

These issues led Kristi to the magic solution – WordStream. She used WordStream’s PPC Performance Grader to get an initial PPC performance report, and in just 30 days Kristi was able to:

• Increase her overall AdWords Performance Grader score from 15% to 83%
• Improve her Quality Score by over 50%
• Increase her average click-through-rates (CTR) from .26% to 6.32% (24X higher!)
• Grow her account activity from 39% to 72%

These stats are pretty impressive. So you may be wondering, where can Kristi possibly go from here?! Hasn’t she done all that there is to do?

NOPE! With PPC there is ALWAYS room to improve.

To present this in simpler terms, if you spend 30 days working out and eating right you’ll lose a significant amount of weight, but after that time-period if you go back to sinking into your IKEA couch with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s glued to your hand, the weight will creep back on. The same goes for PPC – if you spend 30 days revamping your account and improving results, you cannot just ditch it after that. Your PPC account needs TLC just like your health.

Five Ways to Take Your PPC Performance from Good to Awesome

Kristi and I teamed up to do just that – maintain and grow GetOutfitted’s PPC efforts to make them even more successful. After taking a deep dive through GetOutfitted’s account, I came up with 5 optimization tactics if you’re looking to raise the bar on your PPC performance.

#1: Build A Strong Account Structure

The foundation to achieving stellar PPC performance is a strong account structure. The first things I look at in any new client account that I’m investigating are:

1. how many keywords are in each ad group
2. how many ads are in each ad group
3. how relevant the keywords are to each other and the ads within each group

Far too often people dive into building out their account with sea salt in their eyes, and make a huge jumbled mess out of it.

Luckily Kristi’s account structure wasn’t a complete tornado, but there was room for some cleanup. She does have some tightly themed ad groups – which is great – for example she has one around ski wear and another focused on women’s ski jackets and so on, but the majority of her ad groups are under one campaign. With more organization and relevancy throughout Kristi’s account we’ll have the ability to really home in on different areas of her business, as well as capture more qualified traffic that is likely to convert.

Typically it is best to have a few campaigns focused around each product, location, or any other themes that make sense for your business objectives. A great way to break down your campaigns and ad groups is by looking at the structure of your site.

TIP: Having several campaigns does not make sense for all businesses because it is going to stretch your budget across your account, so if you operate a smaller business with just one or two offerings and your budget is limited, you may want to have a “top sellers” campaign with a slightly higher budget, and then an alternative campaign with a smaller budget.

Looking at Kristi’s site for GetOutfitted it is clear there are a few different ways we could break down her account. For example we could create different campaigns for: Men’s, Women’s, Juniors, Kids, and Accessories, and then have ad groups for the different products in each campaign. Since I feel there would be a lot of overlap here, I’d recommend breaking down the campaigns by products:

Ski Clothes – rent

Jackets – rent

Base Layers – rent

Pants – rent

Accessories – rent

And then having specific ad groups under each category, so for example:

Campaign: Jackets – Rent

        Ad Groups:

Rent woman jackets

Rent male jackets

Rent kid jackets

Rental jackets 

Within each ad group Kristi will want to have super tightly themed keywords relating to that ad group. Google suggests having no more than 30 keywords per ad group, and then two to three ads per ad group that are using the keywords within that ad text. You want your keywords, ads, and landing pages to all be extremely relevant to one-another, since the searcher will be much more likely to express genuine interest.

For example, if you were searching to rent a ski jacket, but were directed to an ad all about renting boots for kids, would you click? Likely not, because the product is irrelevant to what you are specifically searching for. Also, if the ad did display text reading “Rent Ski Jackets,” but you were then directed to a landing page about renting boots, I would assume you would quickly leave the page and return back to Google. As you can see, relevancy and thinking about the searcher’s intent are both very powerful and important factors in improving results.

#2: Focus on High-Performance PPC Keywords

How do you know if a keyword is high performing? This of course depends on your goals and which KPI’s or key performance indicators are important to you. For Kristi, she identified that click-through rate and conversions are two very important metrics to determine if her campaigns are successful.

With that known, I dove into Kristi’s keyword historical performance to see which keywords really stood out. The keyword “snow clothes rental” on broad match has a click-through rate of 7.43%, Quality Score of 9, and lots of conversions. This is crazy right? Just this one keyword is really dominating Kristi’s account.

So what does this tell me? A few things – maybe we want to create an entire ad group around the keyword “snow clothes rental.” This will allow us to focus in on this all-star keyword and get even more conversions and business from it. In the new ad group Kristi will want some variations of that keyword as well as to create some relevant ads that are super-specific to that keyword. So the headline would reading “Rent Snow Clothes Today” or “Snow Clothes Rentals Online.”

Typically, once I’ve identified an awesome keyword I like to use a tiered bidding strategy on that word. Tiered bidding is when you bid on the same keyword with all four match types. The more restrictive you get with the match type, the more you’ll want to bid because the quality of traffic will increase.

For example I might bid on “snow clothes rental” like so:

• Exact: $6 CPC
• Phrase: $5.75 CPC
• Modified Broad: $5.50 CPC
• Broad: $5 CPC

Why bid the highest on exact? The ROI is typically much higher because you are aware exactly what the searcher is looking for, as compared to broad match, which is much more open to interpretation since it includes close variants. However, with broad match the volume will be much higher.

#3: Further Build-Out Negative Keyword Lists

This should be a no-brainer, but continuously building out and monitoring your negative keyword lists will help significantly reduce costs and improve results (especially when using broader match types!). It is pretty easy to waste TONS of money on searches that are not related to your business if negatives are not set up properly.

Kristi uses a fair amount of broad and modified broad matched keywords so this will continue to be an area of focus for us, and something that I’ve taught Kristi to incorporate into her workflow.

The most effective way to identify negatives is of course by looking at what people are actually typing into Google to make your ads appear. Luckily, WordStream’s PPC Advisor tool QueryStream does just that! The tool serves up actual search query data that can be used to identify and set up single word or multiple word negatives, add keywords to Kristi’s account that she might want to be bidding on, and even create entirely new ad groups from the searches she’s seeing in here.

When taking a quick glance at QueryStream I am able to identify several negatives for example “rental skis” was searched several times – even resulting from 5 clicks – which is a service GetOutfitted does not provide so this is likely wasting money, therefore Kristi will want to set this phrase as an account level negative keyword.

Keep in mind that it is also important make sure negatives are not blocking terms that could be beneficial to your account so make sure to review negative lists that are currently set up.

#4: Pause Keywords with Poor Performance 

How do you know if a keyword has poor performance?

First, make sure it’s been running long enough to acquire enough data to make this decision. If a keyword has only been running for a few days I would suggest giving it some more time to accrue data rather than just pausing it right away.

Also, do your homework before pausing a keyword. Investigate to find out why the keyword is not performing well. Here are a few common scenarios I often see:

• The keyword’s bid is not high enough. Take a look at the page #1 CPC and the top of page bid estimate to ensure your bids are competitive enough. In Kristi’s ad group “Womens Ski Jackets” I noticed that she has about 12 keywords with bids set to only a penny for their max CPC; in this scenario if Kristi ups the bids she will likely gain a lot more traffic.
• The keyword has low search volume. If the keyword is not accruing much traffic even though you are bidding enough, the keyword may be too long-tailed or simply a phrase that users are not searching for. I would recommend pausing these keywords to de-clutter your account. It is also important to pause keywords that are getting lots of impressions, but very few or no clicks, as this will hurt your click-through rate and Quality Score. Kristi paused the keyword “ski” because it received over 7,000 impressions, but only 4 clicks, resulting in a .06% CTR. Likely the keyword was too general, and was therefore underperforming and hurting Kristi’s account, so she was smart to pause the keyword.
• The match type is either too broad or too restrictive. If the volume is high, but the click-through-rate, conversions, etc. are super low on a broad keyword, then pause it and add the keyword with a more restrictive match type. In Kristi’s account I noticed the keyword “ski clothing” on broad match has a really low click-through rate, so in this case I’d suggest pausing that keyword, and adding it on phrase match to increase the relevancy. If the keyword is on exact or phrase, but not getting much traffic, try adding it as modified broad or broad match to open it up to a larger volume.

#5: Optimize Ads & Create New Ad Text

If you are not continuously optimizing your ad text then you have a problem! Superior ad text is a crucial step in getting searchers to your site. If your ads are not compelling and relevant to your keywords, searchers aren’t going to click on them, resulting in less traffic to your site.

You should regularly be testing and tweaking your ad copy to improve PPC performance. Are you having a Spring sale? Or offering a special discount or event? Include this in your ad text! If GetOutfitted decided to give an extra 50% off on clearance items during summer months, this should be made clear in the ad text.

Kristi’s ads have great historical performance, with lots of impressions and high click-through-rates. Here are some tips you can take away from Kristi’s ad copy:

She does a great job with relevancy.

For example in Kristi’s ad group for rental clothes she is capturing leads to come to the homepage of her website and she does this by using keywords like “snow clothes rental,” “rent ski apparel,” “rent ski clothes” etc. Her keywords are all highly relevant to the ads she has written, which definitely plays a part in her high CTR’s.

She uses ad variations.

In each ad group, I typically recommend running two ads for desktop and two ads for mobile simultaneously to test which ones are performing better. Kristi has done just that, and is able to easily compare performance between the ads. For example, Kristi saw that using “Free Shipping” in her ads led to some confusion, so she decided to tweak this ad text to improve performance. You can also try varying your headline, punctuation, and unique selling prop.

She has sitelink extensions enabled.

Sitelinks extend the presence of Kristi’s ad copy allowing for a lot more clicks and traffic to her site. Her “How It Works” site link has generated over 49,000 impressions, 2,432 clicks with a click-through-rate of 4.9%.

Kristi’s ad copy is simple, to the point, and includes a clear call to action.

For example, “Call To Reserve Your Gear.” Every ad needs a clear CTA so the searchers know what the expected action to be taken is before even clicking on the ad.

What else can she do?

There is still room for improved performance within Kristi’s ad text, including the following:

Kristi should add punctuation to the end of her line 1 description. What this does is when Kristi’s ads appear at the top of the page on the search results, that punctuation mark tells Google to pull the first description line into the headline. This extends the presence of the ad and is proven to increase click-through rate.  

BEFORE

AFTER

Kristi should add a descriptive line to her display URL, for example: www.getoutfitted.com/RentSkiClothes

Think of the display URL as an opportunity to extend the description of your ad.

Kristi should change up the ad copy even more. In one ad group she is using “Rent Ski Apparel” in every headline, but she should try some variations like “Ski Clothing Rentals” or “Rent Quality Ski Clothes” and also experiment with some alternative calls-to-action like “Order Online For Doorstep Delivery” etc. or “Rent Online w/ Free Delivery Today.” Testing more ad text can give a greater test sample, and could prove to be worth the work.

All in all, Kristi’s done an awesome job at improving her AdWords account since first running the Grader and using WordStream’s PPC Advisor, but as you can see in PPC there are always improvements that can be made to get even better performance out of your account.

If you haven’t gotten your fill of Kristi’s success story, check out this recent webinar:

PPC Impossible: 1 Person, 1 Month, 1200% Account Improvement

What are you doing to continuously optimize your AdWords PPC performance?

About the author:

Margot is a Customer Success Specialist at WordStream with a background in SEO, SEM, content and digital marketing. Follow her on:

Twitter: @ChappyMargot

Google+: +Margot da Cunha

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/margot-da-cunha/30/3a7/14b

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

Keyword research is a critical component in every successful paid search strategy. In fact, our internal data shows that search marketers spend nearly 25% of their time on keyword research.

Google has quietly rolled out a number of significant changes and updates to Keyword Planner that should not only reduce the amount of time spent in the tool, but make it exponentially more useful, as well. The updates rolled out this week make it highly visual and more powerful, with a definite mobile focus. It's the first major refresh since the tool was introduced about a year ago.

(Warning: the new version is way more fun – you might actually spend MORE time in Keyword Planner. Try not to get distracted by the pretty shiny things.)

So what's new? Check out the new Keyword Planner features:

Visualize Search Volume Trends

The first thing you notice here is that when you do a keyword search, you get this beautiful chart illustrating the keyword volume trends from month to month. This is super helpful for businesses with seasonally trending products or services.

Previously, this data was jammed into a column and was hard to decipher.

Compare vs. Previous Time Period

Google has added the ability to do a keyword volume comparison against a prior time period.

In the date range, pick a monthly range, then turn “Compare” on.

Now you can see how search volume changed over time, versus a specific time period. For example, look at how the volume spiked for 'Malaysian Airlines' last month, due to the terrible MH370 tragedy.

Of course, all of this data shows up in your dashboard and can be exported. Helpful!

Visualize Mobile Trends

We live in a constantly connected world, so Google is now showing the distribution of mobile vs. desktop searches in Keyword Planner.

In this search for locksmiths, you can see just how many more people use mobile to search on this keyword. Marketers can use this insight – readily available in a visual, easy to understand format – to find opportunities for logical mobile bid adjustments.

Breakdown of Search Traffic by Device

Whoa, look how much greater mobile traffic is than desktops, in this example using 'pizza restaurant' as the search term! No wonder Google uses pizza as their go-to example for mobile. This data wasn’t even available before.

Breakdown by Location

How cool is this: Keyword Planner now breaks down the search volume based on the different geo-targeting options you choose.

To add/remove locations, just go to the targeting area:

More Powerful & Detailed Estimates

Once you’ve selected/added some keywords into your plan, you can get more granular estimates – these weren’t previously available. You can do the same device and location segmentation, but look at how Google customizes the clicks, cost, impressions, etc., according to your bid and daily budget:

All Hail the New Google Keyword Planner

It’s about time Google updated Keyword Planner, and this is exactly what it needed. Mobile is set to overtake desktop by end of next year (according to some estimates) and isn't it Google who are constantly telling us what a connected world we're living in?

These new features bring the Keyword Planner out of the desktop world, to help you connect with the right people, at the right time, in the right place. The new mobile, location and trending data paired with these super-useful visualizations are certainly a step in the right direction and should help marketers realize the benefits of this new marketing paradigm.

We give the revamped Keyword Planner two thumbs up – what say you?

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.