PPC Advertising

I like to think of my pay-per-click (PPC) advertising keywords as my sales team. Each keyword, whether it be a broad match variation, a phrase match variation or an exact match variation is a unique sales entity. Each keyword, whether it be a singular or plural, puts a different spin on the sales pitch inherent within the words themselves. Each keyword, whether it be a tightly focused model number, a brand name, or a generic catch-all kind of word, puts forth its own individual call to action.

So, what do you do with a member of your sales team who is performing under expectations? Well, for starters, you can “reduce his pay” by lowering his bid. Note: I’m using “he” just for simplicity sake. If a member of your sales team is underperforming, certainly you don’t want to keep paying him at his normal rate. Bring his pay down to a level that is acceptable to the performance he is delivering. Bring a keyword down in position if it’s not delivering in a high position.

What if you have already “reduced the pay” of an underperfomer? Then what? Well, ultimately you are going to have to fire him. There is no sense in keeping a sales person around if he has proven time and time again that he cannot deliver the results that are expected of him. So, fire him. Shut him down. Pause that stinker. Sometimes it’s hard to let go, but in the long run you’ll be glad you did.

Now, on a happier note, what do you do with a member of your sales team who is kicking butt? What do you do with the guy who’s outperforming expectations? Well, one obvious thing to do is give him a raise. Push that keyword position a bit higher if you have room to grow the position. This doesn’t always translate into more sales, but you should certainly give the keyword the opportunity to shine if it’s proven in the past that it can deliver results.

What if he is already at the top of the pay scale? Then what? Then you might need to start looking beyond raising his pay. Now you need to start looking to him for “referrals.” Does he have any trustworthy friends who need a job? Does that keyword have a few variations that you haven’t considered? Dig deeper into the keyword and see if you can find a few of its “friends” to come join your team. You might be surprised at what you find.

Happy Holidays to all.

More about Jack
JumpFly PPC Account Executive

So Christmas is almost here and if your sales aren’t as good as you like, don’t fret, there’s still the post-holiday shopping days. Have you ever gone to the malls a few days after Christmas? The crowds are intense, but the sales are pretty darn good. Kind of like Black Friday, only without having to stand in the cold for hours.

Post-holiday sales - those two or three days after Christmas when people are looking to return their ill-fitting or “dud” gifts and spend their Christmas cash before they go back to work - can really be a boost to your business, if you are ready. Start looking now at what items you have quite a bit of. What do you need to move in order to make room for new lines or product? What has a great mark-up that you can easily afford to mark down and still make money on? Start thinking now about what you can mark down or offer as a BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) or Buy One, Get One 50% off.

Consumers are trained to think of those days after Christmas as super-discount days. I know people who don’t do their Christmas shopping until after Christmas, just to save the cash or buy more for less. One of my clients already knows that anything Christmas related - from ornaments to tree toppers to nativity sets to Christmas dolls, decor and figurines - will be deeply discounted starting the day after Christmas. They don’t want to have to store it, and they need to make room for Valentine’s items.

So do your post-holiday sales strategy thinking now, before you hit the holidays yourself. You just might find that Christmas 2008 was better than you thought it would be.

More about Nikki
JumpFly PPC Management Specialist

One of my favorite Google tools has recently had an upgrade and is now available for download, AdWords Editor 7.0. The previous version of AdWords editor was 6.5.1. You can find out which version of AdWords editor you are currently using by opening AdWords Editor, then view Help/About AdWords Editor. AdWords Editor 7.0 is about 16.6 Megs in size and should take about 2-5 minutes to download over any high speed internet connection.

When you open AdWords Editor you should be prompted with the upgrade screen automatically.

Now before you upgrade, there are some important things to consider. If you have comments or unposted changes, I would recommend you click “Backup then Update” when you see the automatic prompt to upgrade. This allows AdWords Editor to create a backup file that includes any unposted changes and/or comments. Once you have installed the new version you can simply import the backup file. Google Help has a great article on the steps needed to correctly import a backup file (AEA). Personally, I always recommend backing up any files before upgrading any software.

It’s also important to note that after you upgrade to AdWords Editor 7.0, you will need to download your account(s) again.

There are some notable improvements to AdWords Editor 7.0.

First page bid estimates are now shown for keywords. The first page bid estimate is the approximate max CPC bid it would allegedly take for your ad to be shown on the first page of Google results. Previously minimum cost-per-click bids were displayed.

Keyword Quality Scores are now displayed in the Keywords tab. This column will display a number from 1 through 10, with 1 through 4 being poor, 5 through 7 being OK, and 8 through 10 being Great. There is a great help article on how AdWords calculates Quality Score, for those interested in jumping down the rabbit hole.

The Keyword Opportunities Tool, still in BETA, now uses your AdWords Editor 7.0 language and location settings. You can change the Keyword Opportunities locale used for the results by clicking the very small blue “Edit” link that appears at the very upper right of the Keyword Opportunities tool window. The sentence will read “Results are tailored to…” There is also a great help article with more information on how to change the Keyword Opportunities Tool’s language and location targeting.

Speaking of Language and Location settings, you can now view your campaigns targeting settings on the Campaigns tab. Now, these columns are hidden by default, however you can select them with the column chooser.

The Keyword Expansion tab now shows “absolute numbers” instead of the odd scaled values previously seen. The numbers supposedly reflect the traffic for the last month.

Adwords Editor 7.0 now has optional usage tracking. This allows Google to collect completely anonymous statistics about how you use the different features. The statistics do not include personal information or any of the contents for your AdWords account. The idea here is that the information gathered will help the design team further understand what needs improvement. This feature is turned off by default, and can be enabled, or disabled, by going to Tools menu/Settings, and then select “improve AdWords Editor by enabling usage tracking.”

When it comes to PPC management, Adwords Editor 7.0 is truly a must have tool. It could very well be the most popular software on my machine. It’s great to see the AdWords Editor design team continue to release new improvements on a regular basis. In a recent meeting with Google, I also submitted my personal AdWords Editor wish list that included separate data for Content and Search, as well as the ability to compare data from different time periods, along with graphical representations, as seen in the Account Snapshot tool. Considering the recent improvements, perhaps my wish list is not too far off in the future.

I recommend you download AdWords Editor 7.0 today.