@Fran_Garofano's Blog

Managing vs Leading a Team: The Importance of Motivation

2015-05-04T11:40:00.000+01:00

There are tons of Digital Marketing Agencies out there, tons of Digital Marketing tools, tons of advertising platforms. Nevertheless, your agency can be unique, unbeatable and inimitable...thanks to your Team! In this post we will learn the difference between Managing vs. Leading a team. Let's dig in!

Managing vs Leading a Team.

The difference between managing vs. leading a team is very simple:

Managers get people to do things, leaders get them to want to do things.

In other words, managers tend to control their team, leaders motivate and inspire their team!

There are 4 different leadership styles:

Directing: Giving specific instructions and closely supervising each task.
Coaching: Directing and supervising but also explaining decisions, seeking ideas and supporting progress.
Supporting: Helping staff to achieve goals by encouraging and sharing decisions.
Delegating Turning over responsibility for decisions to subordinates and giving them freedom to get on with the job alone.

Leadership Styles.

A good leader tends to adopt a more supportive behaviour: instead of just telling people what to do, leaders listen team's ideas, helping them to reach their own solutions and building up their confidence.

A Digital Marketing Agency is a very dynamic, flexible and challenging environment so it is very important to motivate and influence our team in a proper way in order to increase team productivity, limit the number of errors, increase team cohesiveness.

We can influence our team using different powers:

Punitive Power: If a team member doesn't undertake the action required, the leader will impose a penalty (i.e: loss of promotion/bonus/commission). Punitive power leads to unhappy and unmotivated employees.
Legitimate Power: This power is created by the leader’s job title (i.e: Head of Digital Marketing), that gives the leader the right to give orders to the team.
Expert Power: If a member of a team is recognized as an expert (even though he/she is not a supervisor or manager) he/she will be considered a point of reference and will be followed by other members of the team.
Reward Power: A leader can offer a reward (from gift vouchers to commissions and pay rises) to his team for completing tasks/behaving in a certain manner.

So what do you think is the best way to influence your team and keep the motivation high? Rewards perhaps? Think twice!

Dan Pink gave a very interesting speech at Ted Talks regarding motivation (see video below). The bread and butter of his speech is the following: sometimes rewards narrow our focus and restricts our possibilities. The real motivation comes from the desire to do things because they matter, because they are important and we are part of it!

Conclusions

Motivation doesn't come (only) from bonuses nor because your boss tells to do things. Quoting Confucius: "The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence."

Liz Ryan wrote a very interesting article regarding motivation: "We hire brilliant, talented people, not donkeys. They have their own motivation. We don’t need to supply external forces to get people to do great things at work. All we have to do is to remove the barriers that make it hard to move forward."

A good team leader will encourage his/her team to work smarter, not harder (productivity doesn't mean working too many hours nor developing several tasks at the same time). Generating desire to succeed without carrots or sticks and removing barriers: this is a perfect recipe for a good team leader and for a motivated team!

That's all folks! Are you a manager or a leader? Share your thoughts with us leaving a comment below!

Google AdWords URL Options - Goodbye Destination URL, Welcome Final URL!

2015-03-07T11:46:00.001+00:00

Google changed "Destination URL" field into "Final URL". In case we don't use tracking management or thirds parties URLs for our landing pages there will be no difference between the two, no additional efforts required. If we use tracking management, this brand new feature called URL Options will help us to easily customize our URL parameters. In this post we will learn where to find this brand new feature in our AdWords Account. Let's check it out!

Google AdWords URL Options - Goodbye Destination URL, Welcome Final URL!

Quoting Google: “When you define a final URL as your landing page, you can use URL options to manage your tracking and redirect information”

We can customize our URL Options at Account, Campaign, AdGroup, Ad, Keyword and Sitelink level:

URL Options: Shared Library (Account Level)

URL Options - Shared Library.

In the URL Options we will find Tracking Templates field: here we can put our third party URL.

URL Options - Tracking Templates.

URL Options: Campaign Level

In Campaign Settings we will find Campaign URL Options. Apart from Tracking Template we can also add custom parameters which are like personalised ValueTrack parameters.

Campaign URL Options.

Campaign URL Options - Custom Parameters Definition.

URL Options: AdGroup Level

We can find our URL Options at AdGroup level among the Attributes features.

URL Options - AdGroup Level.

URL Options: Ad Level

In Ad URL Options (Ad Level) we will find the Tracking Template field and the Custom Parameters ones.

URL Options - Ad Level.

URL Options: Keyword Level

Same as AdGroup Level, we can find our URL Options at Keyword level among the Attributes features.

URL Options - Keyword Level.

URL Options: Sitelink Level

At Sitelinks level we will find our URL Options during the editing process ("Sitelinks URL Options", at the very bottom of the options list). Here we will find Tracking Template field and the Custom Parameters ones.

URL Options - Sitelink Level.

If you want to know more regarding Google AdWords Upgraded URLs please check the link below.

https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/6049217#existingdest

Adwords Custom Columns: Conversions

2015-02-28T11:03:00.001+00:00

In a previous post of this blog we explained how to sort out duplicated conversion value issues using AdWords Segments & Excel VLOOKUP. In this post we will use a different approach: Custom Columns. Let's dig in!

Google AdWords Custom Columns.

Google recently launched Custom Columns (Campaigns tab - Columns dropdown menu - Customize Columns - Custom Columns). Thanks to this new feature we can create our own columns using specific metrics (Performance & Conversions):

Performance

Cost
Avg. CPC
Avg. CPM
CTR
Avg. Pos.
Clicks
Impr.
Invalid clicks
Invalid click rate

Conversions

Cost / converted click
Click conversion rate
Conversions
Cost / conv.
Conv. rate
View-through conv.
Total conv. value
Conv. value / cost
Conv. value / click
Value / converted click
Value / conv.
Phone call conv.
Est. total conv.
Cost / est. total conv.
Est. total conv. rate
Est. total conv. value
Est. total conv. value / cost
Value / est. total conv.
Est. total conv. value / click
Est. cross-device conv.
Conversions

In order to sort out duplicated conversion value issues we will use Conversion Name metric (see the image below).

Google AdWords Custom Columns: Conversion Name.

Now our conversions will be easily segmented by conversion name.

Google AdWords Custom Columns.

We can also create a Revenue column for our conversion tracking codes (please see the image below). At the moment it is not possible to segment data by cost.

Google AdWords Custom Columns: Total Conv. Value.

That's all folks! What is your favourite custom column? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

PPC Marketing & Local Advertising

2015-02-15T14:10:00.001+00:00

In this post we are going to talk about PPC Marketing & Local Advertising: a must-read post for all local business owners! The post contains the following paragraphs:

Google AdWords, Google Maps & Google My Business;
Google AdWords Ads & Locations Targeting;
Google AdWords Location Options;
Google Analytics - Location Report.

PPC Marketing & Local Advertising.

1) Google AdWords, Google Maps & Google My Business

If you have a local business, Google Maps is your bread and butter. Probably Google Places was one of your first attempts to bring your business into the digital world. Recently Google Places was upgraded to Google My Business so more possibilities for you to be found on the Internet: "Use Google My Business to put the right info about your business on Search, Maps and Google+ so that customers can get in touch." Now make your mama proud, create a Google My Business account, link it with your Google AdWords one and boost your PPC Local Strategy to Gandalf level!

Boost your PPC Local Strategy from Radagast to Gandalf level!

Thanks to AdWords Search Partners (see image below) our ads will also appear on Google Maps, among other sites (in order to appear on Google Maps, our ads have to be very relevant, targeted to the geographic area of the search and with a good Quality Score).

Google AdWords - Search Partners.

Google AdWords Ads & Google Maps.

We can increase the possibility of appearing on Google Maps using Location Extensions. According to Google "on average, ads with location extensions see a 10% boost in clickthrough rate". Not bad isn't it? To use this feature we have to link Google My Business with Google AdWords.
Good to know: in case we have businesses with multiple locations, Location Extension will allow us to filter by business name or category and select specific addresses.

Tip: If you are a tech savvy, you can also manage Location Extensions through Google AdWords API.

Google AdWords - Location Extensions.

Linking Google My Business with Google AdWords.

AdWords Location Extensions - Filtering Account Locations.

It is interesting to notice that a recent survey (92% U.S.; 3% Canada) highlighted that not all SMBs consider Google My Business an effective marketing tool (see image below). All that glitters is not gold...

Source: http://searchengineland.com/smbs-divided-effectiveness-google-business-214464

2) Google AdWords Ads & Locations Targeting

Apart from Location Extensions we can also use Locations Targeting for our Google AdWords local strategy.
This feature allows us to target specific countries or cities. Let's say we have a local shop in Dublin and we want to run a campaign to encourage our potential customers to visit us. Apart from selecting our city, we can also specify a radius around Dublin (i.e.: 5 Km radius) and set a bid adjustment. Now let's put the icy on the cake increasing bids also for "Mobile devices with full browsers" so we will have more chances to appearing on our potential customers' smartphones searching for our products/services near our local business!

Google AdWords Locations Targeting.

Google AdWords - Locations Targeting.

Locations Targeting - Radius Targeting.

Locations Targeting - Bid Adjustments.

3) Google AdWords Location Options

In Google AdWords interface - Settings tab we can find Location Options (advanced). If we want to create a very targeted campaign, focused only on those potential customers physically located in our city, the best option for us could be "People in my targeted location".

AdWords Location Options (advanced).

4) Google Analytics - Location Report

In order to tailor a proper Local Strategy we have to know where are located our potential customers more interested in our products/services. We can accomplish this task making the best of our Google Analytics account.

...because in the book Radagast is not a foolish beggar!

Apart from Google AdWords Location Reports we can also use Google Analytics (Audience - Geo - Location) to identify the best areas for our campaign.

Google AdWords - Location Reports.

Google Analytics - Geo - Location (City & Metro dimensions).

That's all folks! What is your experience with Local Advertising? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

Related Posts:

Local Advertising Bing Ads (Bing Ads Help).

AdWords: How To Sort Out Duplicated Conversion Values Using Excel

2015-01-17T13:32:00.001+00:00

As you may know, it is possible to import Google Analytics goals into Google AdWords Conversion Tracking. In case you use both features at the same time, you could run the risk of tracking more than once the same transaction collecting multiple times data regarding Conversion and Total Conv. Value. In this post we will learn how to extrapolate the correct data from an account with duplicated goals. Let's dig in!

Although it is possible to to import Google Analytics goals into Google AdWords, I do prefer using Google AdWords conversion tracking code only in order to avoid duplicate conversions and revenue values.

In case you have this issue, I have the perfect solution for you (thank you Excel!):

1) Pull the Conversion Name Report

Download a basic version of Campaign report using the Conversion Name report (Campaigns - Segment - Conversions - Conversion Name) (see image below) I say "basic version" because in the Conversion Name report there is no "Cost" but just a list of all our conversion tracking names and the relative conversions segmented by campaign: quoting Google: "Occasionally, if you try to include certain segments when you download a table on the Campaigns tab, some columns in your table might be excluded from your report because not all column statistics are available for all segments".

AdWords: Campaigns - Segment - Conversions - Conversion Name Report.

2) Pull the Campaign Report

Since we need the "Cost" column we will pull a Campaign report using the same timeframe of our previously generated Conversion Name report.

3) Work with Excel

Open the two reports (Conversion Name and Campaign reports) and put them together in the same workbook (different sheets obviously). Now we have to extrapolate unique conversion values (A-D steps):
A) in the Conversion Name report we will filter the AdWords conversion tracking name we need,
B) copy the filtered report and paste it into a separate sheet,
C) create a pivot table (see image below),
D) copy the pivot table and paste it (paste as value) into a separate sheet (we will rename this sheet "VLOOKUP").

Now we have a report with 3 columns (Campaign, Conversions, Total Conv. Value).

Conversion Name Report - Pivot Table.

4) VLOOKUP

Now we have 3 key-sheets in our Workbook:

Conversion Name Report sheet,
Campaign Report sheet,
VLOOKUP sheet.

Our objective is to obtain a Campaign Report with the correct data for Conversion and Total Conv. Value columns.
In the Campaign Report sheet we will fill the Conversion and Total Conv. Value columns using a vlookup formula. Our reference column is "Campaign" so we will put this as column A for both Campaign and VLOOKUP reports.

In the following paragraph how to create our VLOOKUP formula (example for extrapolating Total Conv. Value):

=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2:A63,VLOOKUP!A:C,3,0),"0")

=IFERROR(..."0" In order to avoid #DIV/0! we used an IFERROR formula in combination with the VLOOKUP,
A2:A63, I selected the column A from the cell 2 to 63,
VLOOKUP!A:C,3,0 we just told Excel to find the exact match for the Total Conv. Value located in the third column of the "VLOOKUP" sheet).

That's all! Now we have a proper Campaign Report with unique conversion and revenue data!

Update: Psss...don't tell anyone...you can obtain the same result quicker using Custom Conversions!

Related Articles:

Rip Off The Band-Aid: Use AdWords Conversion Tracking For (All) Your True Business Goals (Search Engine Land)

Google AdWords: Location Reports

2014-12-29T11:34:00.004+00:00

In order to run a profitable campaign it is very important to identify all our "budget leaks" and find a remedy for it. In this post we will learn how to take advantage of the Location Report to fine tune our campaign settings. Let's dig in!

Google AdWords: Location Reports.

Let's say we are running a campaign at national level (i.e.: Target Location Ireland). Once collected enough data for this campaign (i.e.: 1 month) we will run a Location report choosing the option "What triggered your ad (geographic)" (see image above). In this report we will find a very useful list of cities (where our customers were physically located or locations that they showed interest in). With the Edit menu (see image below) we can choose wether to add or exclude certain cities. For instance, we could add/exclude those with positive/negative ROI or exclude those with Cost > Target CPA and no conversions. Moreover, we could set a bid adjustment for our best performing locations in order to be more competitive.

Google AdWords: Location Reports - Add/Exclude Locations.

That's all! With this simple trick we will be able to target our most profitable cities only!

Now it is your turn: What is your experience with Locations Reports? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

Google AdWords: How to Create a Killer Ad Schedule

2014-12-08T21:35:00.000+00:00

Ad Schedule is a great Google AdWords tool that allow us to control our budget avoiding unnecessary costs. In this post we will explain how to create a killer Ad Schedule for our PPC campaigns. Let's dig in!

Google AdWords: How to Create a Killer Ad Schedule

Please note Ad Schedule is available for "All feature" campaigns only. Moreover, Ad Schedule Bid Adjustments are not available with campaigns that have automatic bidding enabled.

Before creating our Ad Schedule, it is necessary to understand how and when we are spending our budget throughout the day. We can do that pulling out a "Dimensions - Hour of Day" report and choosing an adequate timeframe (the larger the better).

1) Dimensions - Hours of Day

Google AdWords: Dimensions - Hours of Day.

With Dimensions - Hours of Day report we can track campaign's/ad group's performance on an hourly basis. We can download the stats and analyse them with Excel using as metrics Cost, Conversions, Total Conversion Value, CPA (Calculated field: Cost/Conversions), ROI (Calculated Field: (Total Conversion Value-Cost)/Cost)) (see image below).

Excel - ROI Chart.

With Excel we will create a Pivot Table with some calculated fields (i.e.: ROI = (Total Conversion Value)-Cost/Cost)) then we will make a chart in order to highlight our data in a more visual way (see image above).

2) Ad Schedule

Google AdWords - Settings - Ad Schedule.

Once identified our poor profitable hours of day (i.e.: those with negative ROI) we will create our ad schedule accordingly, for instance:

From 00:00 to 06:00 Bid adjustment -20%,
From 06:00 to 22:00 No bid adjustment,
From 22:00 to 00:00 Bid adjustment -20%.

Apart from using Ad Schedule in order to control our budget reducing the spend during our poor profitable hours, we can also use this feature to rotate specific sets of ads:

Let's say for a specific campaign we want to launch our mobile ads with a call extension only from 09:30 to 17:30 (Monday to Friday) whilst for the other hours of the day and during the weekend we want to show our standard ads without call extension. We can do that with 4 easy steps:

Duplicate our original campaign (i.e.: "Search Brand"),
Rename the twin campaigns (i.e.: "Search Brand Yes Call Extension"& "Search Brand No Call Extension"),
Create the call extension for "Search Brand Yes Call Extension" campaign only (don´t forget to choose "Mobile" to optimise your ad or extension for mobile devices (see image below),

Choose "Mobile" to optimise your ad or extension for mobile devices.

Choose an appropriate Ad Schedule for the two campaigns (see image below).

Show your ads during specific hours only with Ad Schedule.

The above one is just an example, if you want to schedule your Call Extensions the best way is to use the Call Extensions Advanced Options (please see the image below).

Call Extensions - Advanced Options.

That's all folks! What is your experience regarding Ad Schedule? Share your wisdom with us leaving your comment below!

How to Build a Successful PPC Account

2014-11-02T16:59:00.001+00:00

Building a successful PPC Account is like building our dream house... In this post we will explain how to build a solid PPC Strategy through the following topics:

Goals & KPIs
Account Structure
Keywords
Bidding Strategy

How to Build a Successful PPC Account.

Goals & KPIs

Goals & KPIs: the blueprint of our "dream house".

The first step of our architect-PPC Manager will be identifying our customer's Goals & key performance indicators. Goals & KPIs are the PPC architect's meters and centimeters!
Do we want to raise our Brand Awareness, raise our ROI or increase sales? We will identify specific metrics for each one of the above mentioned objectives.
Quoting Google "Remember, it's important to clearly identify and prioritize the specific goals you want to achieve with your AdWords ads, and then manage your campaigns based on those goals. Setting goals will help you make smart changes to improve performance."

The most important PPC metrics are the following:

CPA: First of all, we have to identify our Target CPA which will help us to take our budget under control. Our aim is to increasing revenue and conversions with a lower CPA.
CTR & Bounce Rate: With this metric we will measure the relevancy of our campaigns/adgroups/ads/keywords. As rule of thumb, for Search Network everything below 1% CTR is bad. In order to better analyze the relevancy of ads, apart from CTR, we will also take into consideration the Bounce Rate of our landing pages through Google Analytics.
Conversion Rate, Average Order Value & Task Completion Rate: Quoting Avinash "every critical metric should have a BFF!". Conversion Rate's best friends are Average Order Value & Task Completion Rate.
Revenue, Profitability & ROI: In order to properly evaluate the efficiency of our campaigns, apart from Revenue (Total Conversion Value), we will also take into consideration Profit & ROI. Quoting Google ROI is "How much profit you've made from your ads compared to how much you've spent on those ads. Return on investment (known as ROI) measures the ratio of your profits to your advertising costs."

Account Structure

Account Structure: The foundation of our "dream house".

Now it is time to put the foundation of our dream house: In this step our architect-PPC Manager will create an account structure that reflects the entire purchase process of our customer (AIDA Marketing process): upper, medium and lower funnel campaigns:

Upper Funnel Campaigns: Very generic campaigns which objective is to describe the essence of our firm. We could use our homepage as landing page (i.e.: www.Example.com). This is the "Awareness" phase of our customer's purchase funnel.
Medium Funnel Campaigns: More specific campaigns for category products. The objective of this campaign is to raise customer interest. We could use our category product page as landing page (i.e.: www.Example.com/Leather-Shoes/). This is the "Interest/Desire" phase of our customer's purchase funnel.
Lower Funnel Campaigns: Campaigns for specific products. The landing page for lower funnel campaigns will be a specific product/service (i.e.: www.Example.com/Leather-Shoes/Men-Premium-Waterproof-Boots/). This is the "Interest/Desire" phase of our customer's purchase funnel.

The last phase of the AIDA marketing process is "Action". All our ads & landing pages will have strong call to actions in order to convert our users into a lead. Tailoring the perfect call to action is a never ending process so a diligent architect-PPC Manager will periodically test his ads.

Keywords

Keywords: The bricks of our "dream house".

Once created the account structure it is time to build an efficient keyword/negative keyword list. Keywords are the bricks of our dream house/account. If we want a house with solid walls we have to carefully select our bricks:

Pause poor Quality Score keywords (< 4),
Pause poor CTR keywords (< 1%),
Remove Low Search Volume keywords with no clicks,
Pause non converting keywords once their cost exceed our Target CPA,
Periodically refine our keyword list with new elements.

Bidding Strategy

Bidding Strategy: the heating system of our "dream house".

Once built the house (campaigns/adgroups/ads/keywords), our architect-PPC Manager will provide us with the most energy efficient home equipments (bidding strategy) because even the most beautiful house is uninhabitable without an efficient heating system! So if we want to really enjoy our stay in our dream house we have to...create a proper bidding strategy!

How much should we spend to obtain a new customer: Using tools such as Google AdWords Keyword Planner we can obtain an approximative idea of our most important keywords' average CPC. For the majority of websites it takes 100 visits to obtain a new customer. So, if we multiply our Avg. CPC by 100 we will know how much should we spend to obtain a new customer.
How much should we pay for a click: We can calculate our maximum CPC (how much we are willing to spend for a click) multiplying our gross profit per sale by our conversions rate (if we have no conversion rate we could use 1% as benchmark).
Bidding Management: once put live our campaign we will notice the effects of the auctions on our keywords so we will manage our bids accordingly. The idea is, above all during the first days of our campaigns, to provide our keywords with the necessary visibility in order to obtain valuable statistics for further adjustments:

* Avoid below the first page keywords,
* Increase bids by 25% for keywords below the 5th position,
* Calculate our most profitable average position,
* Reduce bids in case our daily budget is exceeded during the week,
* If we notice we are obtaining less clicks, reduce bids for our most expensive keywords,
* In case of Accelerated Ad Delivery, control the spend be sure to deliver throughout the day.

That's all folks! Now it is your turn! Let's build your own "dream house" PPC Account and share your experience with us leaving a comment below!

How to create "Visitors of a page who did not visit another page" List for Search Remarketing

2014-09-14T17:46:00.001+01:00

In this blog post we will explain how to create "Visitors of a page who did not visit another page" List for Search Remarketing.

"Visitors of a page who did not visit another page" List for Search Remarketing.

What is Remarketing?
According to Google "Remarketing can help you reach people who have previously visited your website". Thanks to Remarketing we will be able to "build an AdWords campaign with a specific message to show only to people on your "Popular category list" while they search on Google (a/n: Search Remarketing) or browse other Display Network sites (a/n: Display Remarketing)."

Certain remarketing lists are available for Display Remarketing only (Shared Library - Audiences - column List size (Google search) - "Unavailable - Display Only") (see image below).

Remarketing Lists: Unavailable - Display Only.

An example of Display Only Remarketing List is "Visitors of a page who did not visit another page" (see image below).

Remarketing List: Visitors of a page who did not visit another page.

In the following paragraphs we will learn how to create similar targeting option for Search Remarketing in 3 simple steps!

1) If our purpose is to target people who left our conversion funnel without converting, first of all we have to create a Remarketing List "People who visited a page with any of the following" in which we will specify the url of our conversion funnel's first step (see image below). We will call this list "People who entered Conversion Funnel".

Remarketing List: People who visited a page with any of the following.

2) Then, with similar procedure, we will create a list for people who completed our conversion funnel. We will call this list "Converting Visitors".

3) In the last step we will apply both "People who entered Conversion Funnel" and "Converting Visitors" remarketing lists to the same adgroup. Finally, using the "Targeting and Bid" targeting setting, we will decrease bids by 90% on "Converting Visitors" list (see image below).

"Visitors of a page who did not visit another page" List for Search Remarketing.

6 Simple Tips to Take PPC Budget Under Control

2014-08-20T20:20:00.002+01:00

In a previous post of this blog we talked about how to avoid wasting money on Google AdWords. In this post we will further examine this topic with some simple tips that will help us to take our Budget consumption under control. Let's dig in!

4 Simple Tips to Take Budget Under Control.

1) Automated Rules
This powerful Google AdWords tool allows us to automatically pause Campaigns or AdGroups once reached a certain amount of spend. Moreover, we could use Automated Rules to pause unprofitable keywords (i.e.: Cost >Target CPA, Conversions = 0).

2) Shared Budget
Let's say we have several campaigns in one account and our objective is to deliver the entire budget without surpassing our daily limit. We could set a Shared Budget at account level and allocate budget across multiple campaigns.

3) Filters and Labels for Keywords
In our previous post we explained how to use this explosive combination of filters and labels for keywords. Just an example: we have to evaluate the performance of our keywords using our Target CPA as benchmark. If our keyword is performing well (good CTR, good conversions, Cost < Target CPA), we could increase the bid by 15-20% until we reach our most profitable Average Position. We will label those keywords as Good Performers. If our keyword is performing bad (CTR < 1%, poor conversions, Cost > Target CPA), we could decrease the bid by 15-20% until the keyword is below Avg. Position 8 (at that point we will pause the keyword). We will label those keywords as Bad Performers.

4) Devices Settings
Mobile Devices can be very expensive in terms of CPA so it is important to strictly monitor their performance: Campaign - Settings - Devices. In case of unprofitable performance we can decrease bid adjustments or even turn mobile devices off (decrease bid adjustment 100%).

5) Ad Schedule
With Ad Schedule we can (quoting Google):

Specify certain hours and/or days of the week when you want your ads to show,
Set bid adjustments to increase or decrease your bids for specific days and times.

Using Dimensions - Hours of day tab we can calculate our unprofitable days and times, then we can create and Ad Schedule accordingly and setup specific bid adjustments (more info here) in order to improve our CPA.

6) Location Reports
Thanks to Location Reports (Settings - Locations) we can easily identify poor performing cities (i.e.: cities with no conversions where Cost > Target CPA or cities with negative ROI) and exclude them from our campaign.

Conclusion
Our Target CPA is the beacon that illuminates our path to a profitable campaign. Taking into consideration our Target CPA as reference, we will be capable to take better decisions on our keywords bids, bid adjustments and devices settings.

Brief Guide to YouTube Ads

2014-08-09T20:52:00.000+01:00

Visual contents (from Instagram to video advertising) are very powerful tools in Digital Marketing and YouTube ads are probably the best example of video advertising.

There is a variety of video ads so, before activating them, advertisers should evaluate their goals and objectives in order to choose the best tactic for their Digital Marketing Strategy.

There are 2 categories of video ads:

CPM (Cost per Thousand) YouTube Ads;
CPD (Cost per Day) YouTube Ads.

Let's dig a little deeper into this matter with this post!

Brief Guide to YouTube Ads.

1) CPM (Cost per Thousand) YouTube Ads

In-Stream Ads (Standard): This video-ad plays before, during or after a viewer initiates a YouTube partner video. It is a 15-30 seconds non-skippable video-ad (15 seconds ad for videos < 10 minutes long; 30-seconds ad for videos > 10 minutes long. In case we want to create a 30 seconds In-Stream ad we have to contact a YouTube customer service representative).
In-Stream Ads (Select): Up to 30 seconds skippable (after 5 seconds) ad that plays before YouTube partners videos.
In-Video Ads: This is an overlay ad that appears when users initiates video play.
Mid-Page Unit (MPU) Ads: This is the standard banner ad, often used as a companion for In-Video ads.

The following Content and Audience Targeting Options are available for CPM YouTube Ads through Google AdWords:

Topic Targeting;
Interest Targeting;
Affinity Segment Targeting;
Demographic and Gender Targeting;
First Position Targeting.

In the image below, the size of all CPM YouTube ads.

YouTube Ad Formats (on CPM basis).

2) CPD (Cost per Day) YouTube Ads

Desktop Custom Masthead (see image below);
Desktop Universal Video Masthead;
Mobile Video Masthead.

There are no Content and Audience Targeting Options for CPD YouTube Ads.

YouTube Ad Formats (on CPD basis).

That's all folks! What is your experience with YouTube ads? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

Disapproval reasons: [Display URL] Inaccurate Keyword URL. How to sort it out

2014-07-31T07:32:00.002+01:00

Disapproval reasons: [Display URL] Inaccurate Keyword URL. Are you familiar with that? In this post we are going to explain how to sort it out. Let's dig in!

Update 2015: Did you check the new AdWords Editor 11.0.3?

Problem

The "Inaccurate Keyword URL" disapproval reason appears when the root domain in the Display URL differs from the one in the Keyword Destination URL (see the example below).

Display URL (Ad level): www.examle.com/...
Destination URL (Keyword level): www.example/...

This typo represents a violation of Google AdWords Policy so, all our keywords associated with the above mentioned ad will be disapproved.

Solution

In order to get rid of this problem, we have to follow 5 easy steps (it is advisable to use AdWords Editor):

1) Fix the Display URL (from www.examle.com to www.example.com);

2) Delete the Destination URL from all our disapproved Keywords;

3) Post the Changes;

4) Insert the Destination URL in all our disapproved Keywords;

5) Post the Changes.

With the steps 1-3 we will get rid of the disapproval message.

With the step 4-5 we will urge Google to review again our recently disapproved keywords.

That's all folks! Just remember: "In their haste, they don't double-check everything. You need to do that." Jesse Weller.

Boost your Account Performance with Filters

2014-07-30T07:08:00.000+01:00

In this post we are going to talk about one of the most important Google AdWords tools: Filters! With this tool we can easily identify good/bad performers, that will help us to take the right decisions in order to improve the quality of our account. Let's dig in!

Google AdWords Filters

We can create filters from Campaign to Keyword level. We could start at Campaign/AdGroup level with some generic filters in order to quickly identify good and bad performers and then dig deeper at Keyword level with more sophisticated ones. In this post we will focus on Keywords Filters.
For our filters we could use the following metrics:

CTR;
Cost (we will use our Target CPA as threshold. When our keywords exceed in cost our Target CPA we have to decide whether or not pause them);
Avg. Position (before creating filters it would be a good idea to calculate our optimal Average Position);
Cost/Converted Click;
Converted Clicks.

Some recommendations

It is advisable to analyze elements of our account that have enough data: the more historical data we have the better. Regarding increasing/decreasing bids, it is advisable trying little changes (i.e.: 10%) and see how they affect our performance.

Filters for Keywords

1) Improve CTR

* Objective: Identify Keywords with bad CTR. Let's say our Target CPA is €20.
* Action: Pause (Delete) filtered Keywords. We will reduce the numbers of Keywords with CTR < 0.5% improving the overall Campaign CTR.

Filter:

CTR > 0.01%
CTR < 0.5%
Cost > €20

2) Further Improve Good Performing Keywords (Silver Medal)

* Objective: Identify good performing Keywords below our optimal Average Position and try to further improve their performance (i.e.: from Avg. Position 2-3 to 1, we assume that 1 is our optimal Avg. Position).
* Action: Increase Bids 10%. Label the filtered Keywords "Silver Medal" and keep an eye on their performance (above all, Converted Clicks and CPA).

Filter:

Avg. Position worse than 2
Avg. Position better than 3
Converted Clicks >= 1
Cost/Converted Clicks < €20

2/bis) Further Improve Good Performing Keywords (Gold Medal)

* Objective: Identify best performing Keywords and try to further improve their performance.
* Action: Increase Bids 10%. Label the filtered Keywords "Gold Medal" and keep an eye on their performance (above all, Converted Clicks/Conversions and CPA).

Filter:

Avg. Position worse than 1
Avg. Position better than 2
Converted Clicks >= 1
Cost/Converted Clicks < €20

3) Reduce Spend (Non Converting Keywords)

* Objective: Identify non converting Keywords.
* Action: Pause (Delete) filtered Keywords.

Converted Clicks = 0
Cost > €20

3/bis) Reduce Spend (Poor Relevant Keywords)

* Objective: Identify poor relevant Keywords.

* Action: Investigate causes of poor relevancy; pause filtered Keywords.

Filter:

Avg. Position worse than 8
CTR < 1%
Cost > €20

3/ter) Reduce Spend (Too expensive Gold Medal Keywords)

* Objective: Identify too expensive but good converting keywords.

* Action: Reduce bids and and keep an eye on their performance (above all, Converted Clicks and CPA).

Filter:

Avg. Position worse than 1
Avg. Position better than 2
Converted Clicks >= 1
Cost/Converted Clicks > €20

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apart from metrics, we can also filter Labels (i.e.: we will create a filter for "Silver Medal" and "Gold Medal" and see how they performed after a 10% bid increase) or Keyword Status (see next example).

4) Raise to estimated first page bid

* Objective: Identify those keywords with status "Below first page bid" and increase bids in order to give all the keywords the chance to appear in the first page.
* Action: Select the filtered keywords then Edit - Change Max CPC bids - Raise bids to estimated first page bid.

Filter:

Status: Below first page bid

Conclusions

Filters are a very flexible tool that allow us to identify sweet spots or black holes in our account. Every PPC Manager should build their own filters according to his campaigns' goals and structure. In order to track the results of our changes, we could label our modified keywords previously filtered (i.e.: "Silver Medal increased bids 10%") and take note of the changes in an Excel Logbook.

Related Post:

26 AdWords Filters That Are Guaranteed To Speed Up Your Optimization Process (White Shark Media Blog)

Google AdWords & Bing Ads Extensions

2014-07-19T13:08:00.004+01:00

This post is all about Ad Extensions: Why are they so important? How many Ad Extensions are available in Google AdWords and Bing? How to measure Sitelinks performance? In the following paragraphs we will try to answer these questions! Let's dig in!

Google AdWords & Bing Ads Extensions.

Why Ad Extensions are so important?

Apart from any other consideration (Ad extensions create more reasons to click our ad), they are important for Ad Rank:

Google revealed that much of the new factor in Ad Rank is based on “expected impact from ad extensions and formats.” (Larry Kim).

How many ad extensions are available in Google AdWords and Bing?

Google AdWords Extensions	Available
App extensions	Globally
Call extensions	Globally
Consumer ratings annotations	US, UK, Canada
Location extensions	Globally
Previous visit annotations	Globally
Review extensions	Globally (US, UK, DE, FR, ES (including Latin America), JP, PT (including Brazil), IT, and NL
Seller rating annotations	US, UK, DE, FR, and NL
Sitelink extensions	Globally
Social annotations	Globally

Bing Ads Extensions	Available
Call extensions	United States and United Kingdom on all devices. In all other Bing Ads markets, Call Extensions are available on smartphones only.
Location extensions	Globally
Sitelink extensions	In Austria, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, Sitelink Extensions are available only on the Bing network. Note also that the ability to designate Sitelink Extensions at the ad group level is not yet available for all customers.

One of the most important Ad Extensions is Sitelinks. In the next paragraphs we will discover how to measure Sitelinks performance.

How to measure Sitelinks performance?

Measure Sitelinks Performance: "Ad Extension" tab - "Segment" drop down menu.

Google provides us with several tools that allows us to measure our Ad Extensions performance. In "Ad Extensions" tab - "Segment" drop down menu we can find several options, my favourite ones for our purposes are the following:

Click type: here we can see which section of our ad was clicked and the relative performance results (see image below).
Device: here we can se how our ad extension performs in different devices (Computers, Mobile devices with full browsers, Tablets with full browsers) (see image below).
This Extension vs Other: here we can see how our Sitelink performed in comparison with other parts of the ad that this extension showed alongside (see image below).

Measuring Sitelinks Performance: Click Type.

Measuring Sitelinks Performance: Device.

Measuring Sitelinks Performance: This Extension vs Other.

Regarding Bing Ads, according to Bing Ads Forum, Microsoft is working on on a report called the “Ad Extensions Impact Report”. But at the moment it is possible to obtain similar results running the “Ad Extensions by Ad” report and the “Ad Performance Report”.

How To Improve our PPC Account: 12 Must-Do Tasks

2014-07-06T09:17:00.000+01:00

In this post we are going to talk about the necessary tasks required to improve our PPC account. Once performed our PPC Audit, it is time to get cracking! Using the following Must-Do Tasks List we will be capable to properly "refurbish"our AdWords/Bing inherited account. Let's dig in!

How To Improve our PPC Account: 12 Must-Do Tasks.

Testing & Experiments

A/B Testing Ad Copy (Tool: Google AdWords Experiments);
Testing Ad Extensions (Tool: "Ad Extensions" tab);
Testing Landing Pages & Landing Page Optimization Recommendations (Tools: "Dimensions" tab - View: Destination URL; Google Analytics).

Keyword Management

Keyword Research & Account Expansion (Tools: Search Query Report; Google AdWords Keyword Planner);
Adding Negative Keywords (Tool: "Keyword" tab - Search Query Report);
Pausing irrelevant and poor performing Keywords (Tool: Keywords Report & Excel).

Settings

Campaign Settings Optimization (Tool: Performance Metrics in “Dimensions” Tab).

Bidding Management

CPC Bidding Management (Tool: Google AdWords Opportunities; Automated Rules
Budgetary Reallocation (Tools: Keywords tab - "Edit" dropdown menu - Change Max CPC Bids; Campaign "Settings" tab Bids Adjustments at Locations, Ad Schedule, Device level);

Analysis

Mobile vs Desktop performance (Tool: Campaign "Settings" tab - Devices);
Monthly Performance Tracking (Tools: Google AdWords Reports; Google AdWords MCC - Client Reporting);
Customers Behaviour (Tool: "Dimensions" tab; Google Analytics).

That's all folks! What are your Must-Do Tasks? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

How to Perform a PPC Audit

2014-06-28T09:31:00.001+01:00

Apart from creating new campaigns from scratch, one of the most common tasks for a PPC Manager is to receive an account from a predecessor peer and try to improve it. In this case it will be necessary to perform a Google AdWords/Bing Ads Audit in order to find possibilities for improvement. In this post we will explain how to perform this task analyzing the following points:

Account Structure
Campaign and AdGroup Settings
AdGroups, Ads and Keywords "Coherency"
Keywords Audit
Auction Insights and Dayparting

Let's dig in!

How to Perform a PPC Audit.

Account Structure
First step for our PPC Audit is to analyze the structure of the account we have inherited. Comparing our account structure with the relative website we will be capable to see if there is an analogy between the two architectures. The purpose of this step is to put to the test the coherency of our account structure and discover possible weaknesses.

Campaign and AdGroup Settings
In the second step of our PPC Audit, we will revise all Campaigns and AdGroup settings with the aim of unearthing possible discrepancies or inaccuracies. Here we have some examples:

Type: "Search Network Only: Standard" instead of "Search Network Only: All Features";
Languages: "All Languages" instead of English (in case your ads and keywords are in English only);
Delivery Method: Accelerated instead of Standard (in case of Limited by budget Campaigns).

A nice Excel worksheet will help us to collect all our PPC Audit notes (see image below).

PPC Audit Excel Worksheet: Campaign Settings.

PPC Audit Excel Worksheet: AdGroup Settings.

AdGroups, Ads and Keywords "Coherency"
Now, let's check the coherency of our recently inherited AdGroups, Ads and Keywords! The purpose of this step is to identify discrepancies in our AdGroups:

Brand and Non Brand Keywords mixed up in the same AdGroup;
Different Match Types mixed up in the same AdGroup;
Same keywords in multiple AdGroups/Campaigns with the same target location (we can use Excel to identify duplicate keywords in the same AdGroups);
More than one landing page per AdGroup;
AdGroups not clustered thematically or by purchase intent.

Keywords Audit
In this step we will check the health of our keywords pulling out a keyword report at Campaign level in order to identify the good and bad performers.

Moreover, we will run a Keyword Diagnose report in order to identify possible negative keywords conflicts and other issues (see image below).

PPC Audit: Keyword Diagnosis.

Auction Insights and Dayparting
Apart from the above mentioned activities, it would be useful to complete our PPC Audit investigating into our customer behaviour and competitors activity. Using the Dimension tab - Reach and Frequency menu we will be able to better understand our target market and build a more effective bid strategy. Regarding our competitors, Auction Insights report will give us the opportunity to "compare your performance with other advertisers who are participating in the same auctions that you are".

Once finished our PPC Audit we will optimize our inherited account with 12 Must Do Tasks! Check our next post and boost your PPC Strategy!

How to find Duplicate Keywords in the same AdGroup using Excel in 2 Easy Steps

2014-06-22T09:37:00.000+01:00

Excel for PPC Marketing: In this post we will learn how to find Duplicate Keywords with the same match type in the same AdGroup using Excel. Let's dig in!

Excel for PPC Marketing: Find Duplicate Keywords using Excel.

1) Concatenate function
Beside the Match Type column we will create a new one (Concatenate column) in which will use the Concatenate function. Our purpose is to join our keyword and its relative match type in order to create an unique value (i.e.: apartmentsBroad is the result of the function =Concatenate(A2,B2)).

2) Pivot Table
We will create a Pivot Table using "Concatenate" in both Row Labels and Values (for the last one we will use Count of Concatenate) (see image above).

Et voilà! The results with a number greater than 2 will be our duplicate keywords (in our case: apartmentsBroad).

6 Great Google AdWords Tools

2014-06-09T21:54:00.001+01:00

Apart from Google AdWords Keyword Planner, there are other very interesting Google AdWords tools and features that allow us to manage and improve our campaigns. In this post I am going to show you some great Google AdWords tools:

"Dimensions" tab
Search Terms & Auction Insights Reports
"Opportunities" tab
Segment
Filters
Automated Rules

6 Great Google AdWords Tools.

1) "Dimensions" tab

Google AdWords: "Dimensions" Tab.

"A dimension is a descriptive attribute or characteristic of an object that can be given different values." (Google Analytics Help).
As we can see in the image above, we have several descriptive attributes at our disposal grouped by categories (Conversions, Reach and Frequency, Labels, Time...). In "Dimensions" Tab we can see statistics for example by day of the week or user locations so we will be capable to improve our bidding strategy taking advantage of this information! Moreover, switching on the "Compare" option (see image below), we can compare our data from different timeframes.

Google AdWords: "Compare" Option.

2) Search Terms & Auction Insights Reports

Google AdWords: "Keyword" tab - "Details" dropdown menu - "Search Terms" and "Auction Insights" Reports.

Clicking on the "Details" dropdown menu ("Keyword" tab) we can find Search Terms and Auction Insights Reports.

"Search Terms" Report: "Use the Search terms report to see how your ads performed when triggered by actual searches within the Search Network." (Google AdWords Help). Thanks to this report we can identify new relevant search terms for our keyword list or poor relevant ones that will enrich our negative keyword list.

"Auction Insights" Report: "The Auction insight report lets you compare your performance with other advertisers who are participating in the same auctions that you are." (Google AdWords Help). Thanks to this report we can compare our data with our competitors' data! In particular, we have 5 metrics available here: Impression Share, Average Position, Overlap Rate, Position Above Rate, Top of Page Rate. We can also see "Auction Insights" Report on Campaigns and AdGroups tabs.

3) "Opportunities" tab

Google AdWords: "Opportunities" tab.

"The Opportunities tab looks at your account's performance history, your campaign settings, and Google search volume and trends, and automatically generates opportunities that could improve your performance." (Google AdWords Help).

Using this tool we can see if there are areas of optimization for our account. As we can see in Google AdWords Help page, this tool suggests us different opportunities:

Opportunities related to keywords,
Opportunities related to bids and budgets,
Opportunities related to Ad Extensions,
Opportunities related to account structure,
Opportunities related to settings.

Before applying Google's suggestions it is advisable to carefully review them since they are generated automatically and sometimes could not be relevant for your campaigns.

4) Segment

Google AdWords: "Segment" Menu.

"Use segments to split your data into rows based on the options that matter most to you, such as periods of time, click type, or device." (Google AdWords Help).

We can see Segment menu in almost all AdWords tabs (except Settings and Dimensions) even though its content can differ from tab to tab. This is a great feature that allow us to segment our data and analyze our campaigns by "chunks". Once selected our segment (we can choose only one segment at a time) we can create a report and download it. In total, we can choose among 12 different segments!

5) Filters

Google AdWords: Filter button.

We can find the Filter dropdown menu in in almost all AdWords tabs. "Filter your account statistics to search for the data that interests you the most, such as keyword text, average cost-per-click (CPC), or impressions. Once you've created a filter, you can save it for easy access in the future." (Google AdWords Help). This is a very useful feature that allows us to identify problems in our account.
Alistair Dent , Arcadio Rocha and Sarah Peduzzi wrote great posts regarding how to use filters to improve our account performance.

6) Automated Rules

"Automated rules let you make changes in your account automatically, based on settings and conditions you choose. You can change your ad status, budget, bids, and more." (Google AdWords Help).

We can find Automate dropdown menu in Campaigns, Adgroups, Ads, Keywords tabs.
Automated Rules is a great lifesaver for every PPC Manager since gives us the opportunity to automatize a number of tasks such as:

scheduling ads
pausing low performing ads or keywords
bids and bid scheduling
controlling budget and cost

For instance, we could use Automated Rules to control our keyword spend: in case we have a very expensive keyword (i.e.: hr software, see image below), we could limit the number of clicks creating a simple Automated Rule (see example below).

Google AdWords Keyword Planner: hr software seems to be a very expensive keyword!

Example of Automated Rule - (Purpose: Limit Keyword Spend):
"Keyword" Tab – "Automate" button – Pause Keyword when …Requirements: Performance – Clicks >20 Clicks (choose the most appropriate threshold for your needs) – Frequency: 00 – Using data from: Same Day. Create this rule for every hour of the day (see image below).

Google AdWords Automated Rule: Limit Keyword Spend.

That's all folks! What is your favourite Google AdWords feature! Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

Excel for PPC Marketing: How to create a Gantt Chart (Mac) in 6 easy steps

2014-05-29T12:44:00.003+01:00

Excel for PPC Marketing: Gantt Chart is a great way to include a timing schedule for all our activities. This will add a sense of priority to our presentation. In this post we will explain how to create a Gantt Chart with Excel in 6 easy steps! Let's dig in!

Excel for PPC Marketing: How to create a Gantt Chart (Mac)

Step # 1: Data
Organize your data in columns:

Task,
Start Date,
Duration (Days),
End Date.

End Date will be the result of a simple Excel formula: Start Date + Duration (Days) (see image below).

Step #1: Organize Your Data.

Step #2: Stacked Bar - Remove all Series
Choose Stacked Bar from Charts - Bar menu (see image below). Then right click on the Chart - Select Data - Remove all the Series with the Remove button (see image below).

Step #2: Stacked Bar.

Step #2: Remove all the Series.

Step #3: Add New Series
Add new Series in your Data Source using "Add button": We will create Start Date and Duration (Days) series.

1) Start Date Series

Name: Start Date
Y Values: put here the "Start Date" column (C3:C14). The formula will be Sheet1!$C$3:$C$14.
Category (X) axis labels: put here "Task" column (B3:B14). The formula will be Sheet1!$B$3:$B$14.

Step #3: Add New Series (Start Date).

2) Duration (Days) Series

Name: Duration (Days)
Y Values: put here the "Duration (Days)" column (D3:D14). The formula will be Sheet1!$D$3:$D$14
Category (X) axis label: we don't need to fill this field.

Step #3: Add New series (Duration (Days)).

Step #4: From a Stacked Bar to Gantt Chart - Category in reverse order.
Now we have our Stacked Bar Chart. In the next steps we will transform it into a proper Gantt Chart!
First of all, we will adjust the order of our tasks since our Category axis starts with Task 12 instead of Task 1: right click on the Category axis - Format Axis - Scale - Select "Category in reverse order".

Step #4: Format axis - Category in reverse order.

Step #5: From a Stacked Bar to Gantt Chart - Get rid of Blue Bars.
Now we have to clean our bars and get rid of the blue portion: Right click on a blue bar - Format Axis...

Fill: Choose "No fill"
Line: Choose "No Line"
Shadow: Deselect "Shadow"

Step #4: Clean up the Bars.

Step #6: From a Stacked Bar to Gantt Chart - Get rid of Blank Spaces.
Without the blue portion our bars will have huge blank spaces in our chart, in order to get rid of them we have to use a little trick: we will adapt the scale of our bars to our Start Dates and End Dates!
In this example, our first Start Date is 01/07/2014 whilst our last End Date is 01/04/2015. Write down those dates into 2 separate cells and convert them into numbers (right click on the date - Format Cells...- Numbers) so you will obtain the following numbers:

01/07/2014 will become 41821
01/04/2015 will become 42095

Now, right click on the dates (Horizontal (Value) Axis) - Format Axis - Scale - Change Minimum with 41821 and Maximum with 42095 (see image below).

Step #4: Format Axis - Scale.

Et voilà! Now you have a nice Gantt Chart! Congratulations!

Gantt Chart.

Google AdWords: How to Improve our Bidding Strategy

2014-05-19T13:25:00.000+01:00

In our previous post of this blog we explained some basic concepts of Bidding Strategy (how to calculate our Max CPC, improve our bid using Google AdWords Keyword Planner ecc.). In this post we will dig a little bit deeper into this matter talking about bidding strategies for new and mature Campaigns and the most appropriate metrics for our bid adjustments.

Google AdWords: How to Improve our Bidding Strategy.

Our bidding strategy has to be flexible since it has to reflect the dynamic of our campaigns:

Our very first step for our newborn Campaigns could be using the suggested bids from Google AdWords Keyword Planner and creating some automated rules in order to push our keywords to the first page of Google results. Then, once our keywords have reached enough visibility and sufficient historic data, we could fine tune our bidding strategy in order to achieve the best possible performance (the sweet spot between cost and high-quality traffic volume).

Once our Campaigns are "mature" enough (enough historical data during the whole year) we will be capable to identify trends (day of the week, time of the day, seasonality) and better calculate our most profitable Avg. Position!

Let's say our campaign doesn't perform well during the weekends: we could set a bid adjustment (Settings - Ad Schedule) and decrease bids by 20-50% during weekends (see image below).

Campaign Settings - Ad Schedule: Set Bid Adjustments.

Analyzing our campaigns by day of the week and time of the day we will obtain a better idea of how to modify our bids. In fact, we cannot rely only on a mere analysis of CTR, Average CPC and Average Position. Quoting Sam Owen:

"Segment by day, hour, search partners and device to get a clearer picture about what you actually should be doing with your bids."

In order to make the best possible bid adjustment, we will take into consideration the following metrics:

Est. First-Page Bid and Est. Top Page Bid Metrics (see image below);
Bid Simulator Metrics (see image below);
Lost Impression Share (Budget) (see image below);
Cost per Conversion;
Cost.

Google AdWords Metrics: Attributes.

Google AdWords Metrics: Bid Simulator.

Google AdWords Competitive Metrics: Lost IS (Budget).

Apart from the above mentioned ones, one of the most useful metrics for Bidding Strategy is ROAS: If a keyword is exceeding the goals we established for it, we will test higher bids, in otherwise we will test lower bids. Quoting Jacob Fairclough:

"ROAS gives you the ratio you need to achieve between your total spend and your revenue generated. Dividing the revenue per click by the ROAS does the same thing but at the keyword level. Rather than look at an aggregate data, you can use revenue per click to backtrack to how much you can pay per click."

Once we discovered the overperformers and underperformers (i.e.: Search Network: Keywords; Display Network: Placements), we will bid more aggressively on those terms that perform well, will lower bids on those terms that don’t (or are too pricy), and will pause the keywords and placements that don’t perform at all.

Moreover, we could take advantage of Google AdWords Campaign Experiments (Campaign - Settings - All Settings - Experiment) (see image below), setup experiments and test changes to our keywords, bids, ad groups, and placements in order to make better decisions. Regarding this matter I strongly suggest to read the following post: AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE): How to Use ACE to Optimize Your Paid Search Campaigns.

Google AdWords Campaign Experiments.

We could use Excel VLOOKUP Formula to compare results between two different timeframes.

At the end of our brainstorming process, we could easily make our bid changes through AdWords Editor.

Conclusions

Applying some Sun Tzu's principles we will be capable to elaborate a winning bidding strategy.
To make a long story short, in order to properly evaluate the performance of our keywords and placements, we will take into account 3 fundamental factors:

Profitability: At the time to evaluate the performance of a keyword/placement, we have to consider that different products/offers could have different margins;
Seasonality: Our keyword performance could vary due to seasonal trends. For instance, we could bid more aggressively on "thanksgiving turkey" during the months of October and November and then reduce bids in December. Historical data will help us to better define our bidding adjustments.
Competition: Our aim is to reach the optimal average position for our ads and sometimes the first position is not always the most profitable one.

Last but not least, we don't have to adjust our bids too frequently! In this phase, Anxiety probably is the most feared enemy for any PPC Manager: It is advisable to fine tune our bids every 2-4 weeks in order to gather adequate historical data for our keywords and placements.

Conversion Tracking Code: Bing vs Adwords

2014-05-14T14:19:00.000+01:00

In this post we will compare Bing and AdWords Conversion Tracking settings. We will identify differences and unique features and learn how to properly setup a Conversion Tracking Code. Let's dig in!

Conversion Tracking Code: Bing vs Adwords.

Bing: How to create a Conversion Tracking Code

We can create a Bing Conversion Tracking Code following this path:
Campaigns page - Manage your analytics settings link - Goals paragraph - Create goal button (see image below).

Bing: How to create a Conversion Tracking Code.

Bing Conversion Tracking Settings

Bing Conversion Tracking Settings.

Now we can setup our Conversion Tracking code in 3 steps:

Goal settings: we have to assign a name to our goal ("Conversion step name", i.e.: Purchase, Sign-up...) or choose more specific steps:
- Land: when a visitor arrives on our landing page after clicking our ad;
- Browse: when a visitor browses to a webpage such as a list of products;
- Prospect: when a visitor is about to make a conversion.
Revenue and Cost Tracking for Conversion Steps: here we can choose the setups that will allow us to track how much money we make for each conversion and the costs per conversion.

Revenue to track: We can choose None if we don't want to track any revenue; Constant if we earn the same amount for each conversion; Variable if we earn a variable amount for each conversion.
Cost to track: here we can track Non-advertising, Tax and Shipping costs. In this case we have to specify the above-mentioned costs in the tracking code (see image below).

Conversion Period: here we will specify the number of days we want to keep track of our users after they first visit our website.

Bing Conversion Tracking Code: Cost to track settings.

Google AdWords: How to create a Conversion Tracking Code

We can create a Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Code following this path:
Tools menu - Conversions link - + Conversion button (see image below).

How to create a Conversion Tracking Code: Tools - Conversions - + Conversion.

In the next step we will declare our conversion source (where our customers complete their conversions) (see image below).

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Settings: Conversion Source.

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Settings

Each one of the above mentioned sources has got different settings (see images below):

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Settings: Webpage Settings.

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Settings: Call On-Site Settings.

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Settings: Mobile or Tablet App Settings.

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Settings: Import Settings.

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Snippets: Call On-Site Onclick

Once we finish the setup of our Conversion Tracking code, we have to paste our snippet code into our webpage. Each one of the conversion sources (Website, Call On-Site, Mobile or Table-App, Import) will have a different snippet. Regarding Call On-Site, apart from the Conversion Tracking snippet, before </body> we also have to install a particular command called onclick.
If the phone number is shown as...(see image below):

How to setup the onclick snippet for Call On-Site Conversion Tracking Code. Source: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/1722054?hl=en.

Bing: Conversion Metrics

In Columns - Add or Remove Columns we can find Conversions metrics such as Conv. and Conv. Rate at Campaign, AdGroup, Ad and Keyword level. Apart from the Columns, we can find Conversion Metrics also on the Reports (Campaign Analytics section):

Conversion reports: here we can find impressions, clicks, conversions and revenue.
Goals reports: here we can analyze data regarding our conversion goals.
Traffic sources reports: these reports provide us with conversion and goal data by sources of traffic to our website.
Segments reports: here we can analyze data by geographic and demographic attributes.
Tactics and channels reports: these reports provide data by custom report dimension.

Moreover, Bing recently improved its Conversion Reporting with new metrics in Performance Reports.

Google: Conversion Metrics

Google AdWords provides us with a number of useful Conversions Metrics (Columns - Customize Columns - Conversions Metrics) (see image below).

Google AdWords Conversions Metrics.

We can find Conversions metrics at Campaign, AdGroup, Ad and Keyword level (see image below):

Google AdWords Conversions Metrics.

Conclusions

Google AdWords provide us with a more flexible Conversion Tracking Code settings:

We have the possibility to choose among different conversion sources (Website, Call On-Site, Mobile or Table-App, Import conversions);
In Webpage settings we can choose "Markup Language" very helpful option if we have a mobile site.

On the other hand, Bing has got an unique feature, Cost to Track settings, so we will be able to track costs associated with our conversions.

Regarding Conversions Metrics, even though Bing recently improved its reports, Google offers us nothing less than 21 different metrics.

An Introduction to Bing: How to Optimize your Campaigns

2014-05-12T10:08:00.001+01:00

In this post we will learn how to optimize our Bing Campaigns taking advantage of the following Bing Tools:

Change History graph
Bing Reports
Keywords Tools

An Introduction to Bing: How to Optimize your Campaigns.

Change History Graph

Bing Interface Screenshot: Change History tab.

We can use Change History graph (Campaigns page - Change History tab) to monitor the performance of our search ads and figure out how the changes we made affect our account. With Change History graph we will be able to identify what factors influenced the performance of our campaigns, ads and keywords.

Bing Reports

Bing Interface Screenshot: Reports.

Bing interface provides us with a number of useful reports. In Reports page we can find 3 types of reports (see image above):

Standard reports
Custom reports
Report history

In Standard Reports there are 5 report categories (Performance, Change History, Targeting, Campaign Analytics, Billing and Budget) with an excellent collection of useful reports (see image below):

Bing Standard Reports: Categories and Types of Reports.

Performance reports: analyze the performance of our campaign, and identify possibilities for improvement.
Change History reports: see record of changes made to our account as well as which user made the changes.
Targeting reports: see the performance of our ads for a specific audience demographic.
Campaign Analytics reports: analyze conversions and revenue, as well as visitor behavior on our website.
Billing and Budget: see our monthly budget, how much we spent to date, and our billing documents.

Keywords Tools

Bing Keywords Tools: Estimation and Research Keywords Tools.

Apart from Keyword report, we have other tools that allow us to improve our performance and our keyword list :

Keyword distribution graph (above the Keywords tab): quickly identify best performing keywords.
Estimation tool (Keywords tab): can help you optimize your keyword bids for the search position that meets your campaign goals. A Keyword report can help you identify expensive, underperforming keywords that you may want to delete (see image above).
Research Keywords tools: find additional keywords that are relevant to our ads and landing pages (see image above).

That's all folks! What is your favourite Bing feature? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

Related Posts:

Campaign Settings: Differences between Bing and Google (Search Network Only)

Campaign Settings: Differences between Bing and Google (Search Network Only)

2014-05-07T07:56:00.001+01:00

In this post we well compare Google and Bing Campaign Setting (Search Network Only) and will discover their similitudes and differences regarding the following features:

Location Settings
Ad Schedule Settings
Demographic Settings
Devices Settings
Advanced Settings

Campaign Settings: Differences between Bing and Google Settings (Search Network Only).

Locations Settings

With both Bing and Google we can increase or decrease bids for a selected location (see image below).

Locations Settings: Bing and Google.

In advanced location options, Google offers the following features:

People in, searching for or viewing pages about my targeted location (recommended)
People in my targeted location
People searching for or viewing pages about my targeted location Bing doesn't have this option

In advanced location options, Bing offers the following features:

Show ads to people in, searching for, or viewing pages about your targeted location
Show ads to people in your targeted location

Ad Schedule Settings

Both Google and Bing offer similar Ad Schedule settings. The only difference is Bing separates the hours of the day in 6 different timeframes (early morning, morning, midday, afternoon, evening, late night) (see image below).

Ad Schedule Options: Bing and Google.

Demographic Settings

Unlike Google, Bing allows us to increase or decrease bids for both genders and all ages for Search Network only.

Demographic Settings: Bing.

Devices Settings

Unlike Google (where we can target only mobile devices), Bing allows us to increase or decrease bids for the following options:

Desktops and laptops,
Smartphones and other mobile devices with full browsers,
Tablet devices.

Devices Settings: Bing and Google.

Advanced Settings

Google has got a more flexible campaign settings control panel: apart from the 4 above mentioned features, Google offers the possibility to edit campaign type, languages, ad distribution, pricing model, schedule and ad rotation; in fact, once you choose this settings on Bing (see "Campaign creation process" in the image below) is it not possible to edit them later (see "Edit Campaign Settings" in the image below).

Bing: Advanced Settings before and after the Campaign creation process.

Furthermore, Google offers more "Ad rotation" options ("Optimize for conversions", "Rotate indefinitely") (see image below):

Google Advanced Settings.

Last but not least, unlike Bing, Google offers very flexible Bid strategy options.

Tip (Must-read): 14 Reasons Marketers Should Have Bing Ads Accounts in 2014.

That's all folks! Google or Bing? Which one is your favourite? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

Related Posts:

An Introduction to Bing: How to Optimize your Campaigns

Sun Tzu and The Art of...PPC Marketing

2014-05-05T12:43:00.002+01:00

The Art of War, famous treatise on military tactics written by Sun Tzu, had an enormous impact not only on Asian history and culture, but also on numerous western fields of studies and disciplines. In this post I will share with you my thoughts regarding PPC Marketing inspired by Sun Tzu's masterpiece.

The Art of War and PPC Marketing.

Top 5 Sun Tzu Quotes for PPC Marketing

Know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles you will never be in peril.

The first step for a successful PPC strategy is to clearly identify our market and customers, as well as our main competitors, define our goals and the most appropriate KPIs. We will create a campaign launch checklist in order to be sure to cover every necessary step before activating the campaign. Through a detailed SWOT Analysis we will be able to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats involved in our PPC project. Regarding this matter I strongly suggest a John Lee's post: PPC SWOT Analysis: Manage Campaigns Like a Business.

In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advantage relying on sheer military power.

High budget does not necessarily mean successful campaigns. We have to elaborate tactics that will allow us to avoid wasting our money and spend our budget more effectively: from the creation of an efficient account architecture with well organized campaigns and themed adgroups with the best possible keyword list, to the elaboration of an accurate bidding strategy.

The way a wise general can achieve greatness beyond ordinary men is through foreknowledge.

PPC Marketing is a very changing and dynamic sector of Digital Marketing (Enhanced Campaigns and other recent Google AdWords changes are a perfect example of that). We will regularly check the most important PPC Blogs in order to stay always update regarding this matter and to swiftly adapt our strategy accordingly.
In the video below: Step inside the future of AdWords, Livestream April 22, 2014.

When a falcon's strike breaks the body of its prey, it is because of timing. When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of momentum.

Even the best possible campaign or the most efficient ad text copy could be a complete fiasco without the use of an appropriate timing. Timing is crucial in PPC Marketing, since it helps us to take advantage of that window of opportunity only available in certain times of the day/week. Through the creation of an ad schedule we will be able to specify certain hours and/or days of the week when we want our ads to show and set bid adjustments to increase or decrease our bids for specific days and times.

Move only when you see an advantage and there is something to gain. Only fight if a position is critical.

Unless we have branded keywords (in this case we do want to appear in the first position and we will fight for it) the equation first position = best profitability is not always true. Using Pivot Table we could calculate our PPC account's optimal Average Position in terms of CTR, Conversion Rate and Cost/Conversion.

That's all folks! What is your favourite Sun Tzu quote for PPC and Digital Marketing? Share your wisdom with us leaving a comment below!

How To use Excel to Calculate AdWords Bid Adjustments

2014-05-02T12:08:00.001+01:00

Excel for PPC Marketing: In our previous post we talked about Google AdWords Bid Adjustments. In this post we will learn how to use Excel to calculate our Bid Adjustments (Location, Time and Mobile Bid Adjustments). Let's dig in!

How to Calculate Location Bid Adjustment with Excel.

According to Google, we can calculate our bid adjustments in the following way:

Location Bid Adjustment: 100 * (CPA Goal / CPA) - 1
Time Bid Adjustment: 100 * (CPA Goal / CPA) - 1
Mobile Bid Adjustment: 100 * (Value/Converted Click Mobile / Value/Converted Click Desktop-Tablets) - 1

Using the above mentioned formulas we will create our own template in Excel. In order to avoid #Div/0 (see image below) we will use ISERROR (just a more elegant way to show the result in the unlikely case you would put zero in the CPA cell).

Use ISERROR to avoid #Div/0.

Moreover, we will improve the readability of our result decreasing the number of decimal places (see image below).

Decrease the number of decimal places.

** You can download the Spreadsheet here **