PPC Search Marketing

Have you ever wondered how people get their ads to show within Gmail accounts? Well, there’s two answers…

1. The ads down the right. These are automatically appear as part of the AdWords content system. If you have selected content, they can appear in that spot if they fit the context of the email being read. The downside is that these ads don’t get noticed.

2. The single ad along the top. There is a trick to appearing here, and it is a valuable spot to have. Not only does this location get noticed, the barrier to entry is high, for most of your competitors haven’t even thought of placing ads there, let alone know how to do it. Here’s how:

1st. Add mail.google.com to your list of placements in the Content Network. This can only be done manually, it will not show up as a choice in the Placement Tool

2nd. Choose to use this placement only when setting up your campaign

3rd. The box along the top within Gmail is known as the “funbox”. To have your ads only show there, change the placement to “mail.google.com::Inbox,Top center”

Tips:

• bid higher than usual
• remember that a funbox ad is all one line
• bid on keywords that might appear in the subject line of emails your target demographic read
• bid on the exact subject line of a popular newsletter (perhaps that of your competitor!)

Watch this video, by AdWords Media Planner Austin Lau - where most of the above info came from (yep, that means it is official):

Sure, you can write your own PPC ads. Most small businesses do, because it is easy - ten or so words and a headline!

There are substantial reasons why outsourcing you ad copy can save you money, and customers:

CTR

An ad that invites clicks can halve your costs. Google Adwords, for example, understands that if it shows the ads that get the most clicks, it will make more money. Consequently Google rewards such ads by lowering their cost per click.

Quality Score

There are numerous other factors that Google looks at, not just CTR. A skilled PPC copywriter is aware of these factors, and writes ads in a way that Google will like them. This is essential for avoiding the dreaded “Google Slap”

Pre-Qualify Those Clicks

While a high Quality Score and CTR are desirable, there is no point paying for clicks if the clicker doesn’t buy. It is critical that you make sure most people who click on your ad have an intention to make a transaction.

Focus

Most of your staff would rather be doing something else, instead of writing ads. Therefore you run the risk of them putting little effort in, or avoiding the task altogether. Get someone who likes writing ads!

A/B Testing

A non-professional will most likely write one ad and feel they have done their job. An expert will write many ads, and then return and write some more. There is always improvements that can be made.

Tricks of the Trade

For example, you can embed the search keywords into you ad. No matter what someone searches for, if it triggers you ad, their keywords can appear, emboldened, in your ad headline.

Disallowed Ads

Google has an automated system that will disallow you ad for various reasons, including grammar, trademark infringement, spelling and content. Sometimes the system makes crazy decisions, and it is easy to just give in. An experienced PPC copywriter knows how to get around this system (without breaking Google’s guidelines), and how to ask Google for exceptions.

Like many aspects of modern business, you have two choices when it comes to PPC marketing: inhouse or outsource. Questions you should consider before taking the inhouse route include:

• Have any of our current staff ever used PPC?
• Would we have to hire new staff?
• Do we know what to look for in new staff?
• Do we have enough work for full-time staff?

Depending on the size of your operation, you might consider looking for staff who can fill multiple roles. Regardless, you’ll need to following if you wish to do it all yourself:

• Copywriter - a wordsmith who understands A/B and multivariate testing. Hopefully they are also involved in landing page copy
• Mathematician - not a real mathematician, but someone very good at number-crunching, spreadsheets & data analysis. PPC data can be very convoluted & complicated, and ROI is not necessarily as easy as looking at Google Analytics
• Keyword Engineer - someone who understands what people search for, what converts, what gets clicks, and how to best use available keyword tool-sets
• Maybe a Programmer - we found that the only way to manage our campaigns effectively was to create our own software tools. Even if you outsource this task, you’ll need some programming expertise to be able to communicate your ideas effectively

Oh, and somebody to manage them!

In our experience, it is extremely hard to find one person who can wear multiple of the above hats. They require different types of brains and personalities.