SEM Conferences: Reflections at the Crossroads (The SEM Post)
It’s no secret that the state of digital marketing conferences is in flux. Some conference series have become long in the tooth; others are ascendant. How dire is the situation? Whoops, I might have let the cat out of the bag. “Flux” is usually a code word for “trouble.” The old logic may be unraveling. […]
Sculpting PPC Success
Building a successful pay-per-click (PPC) campaign can sometimes be viewed as “sculpting” in the sense that you need to chip away at the parts that won’t help you achieve your conversion goals until you are left with a strategy that works. Now, as ever, profitable pay-per-click (PPC) campaign structures lie waiting somewhere on the other […]
Quality Score, We Hardly Knew Ye
There has been much confusion about the changes to Google’s Quality Score. Here’s a look at how things have changed, how they’ve stayed the same, and what marketers should do going forward. Recently, some clients and colleagues joined me for a custom seminar at Google Canada headquarters. While some of the group may have focused […]
Quality Score: 7 New Things You Don’t Have To Worry About (The SEM Post)
Recently, Google released a provocative new White Paper on AdWords Quality Score, setting the industry mildly abuzz. Google rarely releases supplementary information about its formula beyond the formal information in its core help files. Perhaps Google is simply “clarifying” how Quality Score works in order to cut through a sea of misinformation. It was a helpful intervention by […]
Mobile PPC Tips & Tricks – What Works & Doesn’t (Search Engine Land)
As we all know, the mobile environment is becoming more important, and mobile PPC is a topic companies are starting to pay more attention to. At this point, there’s still a lot of low-hanging fruit out there. In this article, I’ll share some mobile stats to begin with, and then provide some PPC tips and […]
Remarketing Tips Born Of Years Of Experience
Retargeting is an awesome way to reengage traffic that hasn’t converted. Over the years, it’s evolved, and the tools have become more robust. With this development, we’ve uncovered some effective remarketing strategies. In this article, I’ll cover some ideas related to engaging returning customers, obtaining new customers and remarketing related to specific search term queries. But […]
5 Common PPC Keyword Bidding Errors
There is a lot more to bidding, keywords, queries, Quality Score, and overall prioritization of effort in a PPC account than initially meets the eye. Thinking in multiple dimensions is a must. On the surface, PPC keyword bidding looks simple and one-dimensional. Keep updating individual keyword bids until each is hitting your key performance indicator […]
Can You Hit Google’s Knuckleball?
While Google does throw many “knuckleballs” at marketers, there are several “fastballs” in there, too, if you know where to look. Another year, another season of high hopes for my beloved Toronto Blue Jays. Our former Cy Young-winning knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey, offers hope and heartache. A strong seven-inning performance will be followed up by an […]
Canada: A Vast, Unspoiled E-Commerce Frontier?
Our neighbors to the north have lots of work to do when it come to capitalizing on the many e-commerce opportunities available to them. With the approach of the first ever ClickZ Live Toronto conference in beautiful Toronto springtime, it’s now apropos to remove my pan-North-American and global marketer hat, and definitely time to scale back […]
After April 22, You’ll Be Busy. Because AdWords Is About To Get A Lot Better
Last year, while many other advertisers were holding protests and doing the Chicken Little dance, I decided early on to say something different: Enhanced Campaigns were going to make things… yes…better.A year later, and we’re still living with the pain of something that was taken away: bid control over the tablet channel. What we gained was […]
