St. Louis Pay Per Click

Archive for January, 2008

Having the ability to track your pay per click ROI is essential for running an effective advertising campaign. Many advertisers track click-through-rate or conversions to determine a campaign’s effectiveness. While these numbers do assist advertisers in determining which ad groups have the highest performance, there is still a missing link in determining which advertising outlets provide the highest return for overall spend. 

For example, we have seen that Ask sponsored listings tends to generate fewer clicks and a lower amount of conversion than that of Google. To an advertiser, it may appear that Google is the better performing advertising network because it generates more traffic and sales. However, traffic and sales do not necessarily indicate a better overall performance. Ask sponsored listings can generate a large amount of traffic at a lower cost per click. When comparing the overall advertising cost to the average conversion and sales amount, the ROI for Ask can actually prove to greater than that of Google.

Keep in mind that this is only an example. A well-optimized Google AdWords campaign can certainly outperfrom Ask and other search networks. The point is that a campaign with a large amount of traffic and sales does not always indicate high profitability.

For those advertisers wanting to track their ROI, here is a helpful tool from SEOMatric LLC. This PPC ROI Calculator, allows advertisers to enter their total monthly clicks, the average cost per click, the conversion rate, and average buyer purchase amount to reveal an estimated ROI on thier advertising spend. Advertising effectiveness does not need to be a guessing game. This and other ROI calculator tools can help you optimize your advertising spend to get a better Return on Your Investment.

Erica Scharringhausen is a Pay Per Click Account Manager for The Net Impact Web Design St. Louis Firm.

No two pay per click campaigns are created equal. Pay per click account managers pride themselves upon the fact that they create unique, specifically targeted campaigns for each account they manage. So where do the new Google campaign templates come into play? Who will actually use this function…and for what?

The Template Center allows campaign managers to create templates for both keyword-targeted and placement-targeted campaigns. The templates allow you to set the values for the various settings involved in campaign creation (you know: ad groups, ads, keywords, budgets, target languages and countries, and start and end dates). Once created, these settings are automatically applied to each campaign that uses the template. Campaigns can be customized once the template is in place. 

With so many differences between campaigns, including geographic reach, pricing, and budgets, is it realistic to think that effective campaigns can be created through the use of a single template?

To me, the answer is yes. While a template is certainly not sufficient to run an entire, long-term client campaign, the template function does offer some interesting possibilities when it comes to quick and efficient deployment of baseline and test campaigns. The templates allow quick and efficient set up of standard campaigns, with a budget, geographic reach, and other settings that would apply to each test campaign setup. This can help standardize initial testing and experimentation. 

This option is especially appealing to pay per click account managers acquiring clients that have existing pay per click accounts. When working with a new client, it is often hard to prove effectiveness during the beginning stage of the relationship. A repeating question that clients ask all the time is “What did you do for me that I wasn’t doing before?” In order to show the value you provide, it is helpful to run a similar campaign, with minor modifications. In theory, you are showing them that with all else equal, your modifications are improving overall campaign performance. That is if you are successful.

Erica Scharringhausen is a Pay Per Click Account Manager for The Net Impact Web Design St. Louis Firm.

In today’s business environment, conversion tracking is becoming increasingly popular. It is not enough to generate customer leads. You want to convert leads into sales. When measuring the success of pay per click advertising, a great amount of focus goes toward return on investment, generated revenue, and sales/leads conversions to determine which advertisements produce the most revenue for your business. Pay per click advertising can help drive traffic to your business, but you need to be able to track your success. The following are some important areas to consider when setting up conversion tracking.

 

Landing Page Layout

You cannot track conversion without providing an action for the customer to take (an action you deem a conversion). The landing page that the pay per click ad leads to is one of the most important factors in creating a successful ad. While the ad encourages a potential customer to visit your web site, it is the landing page that encourages potential leads to take the desired action once they arrive at the landing page. A common practice is to place a form, number, link to the contact us form, product the visitor wants, promotion, or some other means for the visitor to connect with your web site and its products or services.

Conversion Page

Equally as important as having a landing page that connects with the customer is having a page that entices the client to engage in your product or service. The best way to track conversion is through actions such as making a purchase, filling out a contact form, signing up for your company’s newsletter, or any other interaction that serves as a lead or sale on your web site.

Utilizing Analytics

In order to determine which conversions came from your pay per click advertisements, you need to have the tools in place to track the source. There are several analytics packages available that can assist you in identifying the source of the conversions you receive. Google AdWords allows pay per click advertisers to track conversion through its online platform. The tracking script is placed on the page that signifies a conversion. Through the Google AdWords platform, you can track the ads and keywords that provide the highest return on your advertising. This will allow you to refine your campaigns and utilize your strongest advertisements. Analytics services outside of the AdWords including Google Analytics, Hitslink, Index Tools, Omniture, and other packages, can also provide you with the tools to determine how you can get the most bang for your buck.

The key is to formulate a plan and then put your plan into action.  In order to develop a successful advertising campaign, you have to be able to track conversion.