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 […]
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 […]
Why I Hate Ad Extensions
Although there are endless touted benefits to ad extensions, here is a look why they may not be all they’re cracked up to be, with 11 detailed reasons. OK, “hate” is a strong word. If I were appropriately British, I’d probably soften this to “Why Ad Extensions Are Sometimes Found Wanting.” Being Canadian, all I […]
Do “Suspicious Minds” Make the Best PPC Managers?
It’s important to adopt the proper balance between an expansionary approach and a stance of vigilance. In the right proportion, the “suspicious mind” is a sharper campaign manager than the pure optimist, or the “laissez-faire” thinker. Why can’t you seeWhat you’re doing to meWhen you don’t believe a word I say? – Fine Young Cannibals […]
PPC for Start-Ups
A breakdown of three different ways start-ups often use PPC to acquire new customers and a look at which ones have proven to be the most successful. Paid search is the quintessential tool for acquiring new customers. So shouldn’t it be the ideal tool for high-growth start-up companies? Yes it can be, but it often […]
PPC Goes to Cleveland
PPC is still the hardest working channel in advertising. Clients get value they can touch, feel, and take to the bank. PPC gets on the plane. It goes to Cleveland. You’ve heard of the amplifier that “goes to 11?” PPC is like that, only it “goes to Cleveland.” If you follow the high level chatter […]
