Better Than Finger-Cooking: Ad Testing Tool Use for the Reluctant Artisan
If you’re involved in ad testing, give these simple statistical calculators a try and ensure you have the familiarity with mathematical tools and foundations to succeed. Without even knowing it, all PPC advertisers are in the business of using predictive models to improve response rates. The barriers to entering the field are so low, though, that […]
PPC Ad Creative: Follow the Rules, Dammit!
In PPC, always leave space for continued refinement and new discoveries, but don’t take this as carte blanche to deviate from million-dollar-proven rules, just for the sake of idle curiosity. Columnist Andrew Goodman explains. Disclaimer: the following rant is directed only at myself… and any other brilliant and creative being with flesh, bones, and blood […]
5 PPC Iterations You Ignore at Your Peril
Andrew Goodman shares five typical PPC tactics you can’t afford to ignore and suggestions on how you’ll have to iterate once you get them running. Monty Python dropped a cookie in 1979, so unfortunately, I have to give them 100% credit for the all-important nugget of wisdom, “Blessed are the cheesemakers.” A trade publication has […]
Is Your SEM Focus Too Conservative?
In the evolutionary struggle for business survival, it’s vital to adapt. “If all you do at work is hope to survive, your day can’t be much fun.” In the underappreciated “Survival Is Not Enough: Why Smart Companies Abandon Worry and Embrace Change,” Seth Godin expounds on the concept of the “winning formula” that companies typically […]
Your Company’s Looming Traffic Problem
A growth strategy trumps a narrow ranking strategy in a no-growth environment. Among a wide variety of insightful catchphrases you’ll hear from conversion optimization guru Bryan Eisenberg is: “You don’t have a traffic problem. You have a conversion problem!” I always cheer when I hear my friend say this, but he’s only about 52 percent […]
12 Hidden Pitfalls in PPC Campaign Automation
A completely automated approach to marketing will cause your analytical abilities and corporate capabilities to atrophy, so getting the mix right is important. In a previous column, I discussed how limiting your exposure to “small stressors” and trial-and-error testing can lead to corporate fragility. This can be what happens when you stop testing, and cede […]
Can Quality Score Be Gamed?
We can still prevail over competitors if we follow strong hunches about the vulnerabilities of Quality Score and the effects of the overall formula on rank and CPC. Like most complex games with many intelligent participants (such as financial markets, chess, and high-stakes poker), your first hunches about how to “get ahead of the pack” […]
2 Big Wins With Enhanced AdWords Campaigns
Yes, there are drawbacks to the loss of some granularity in Enhanced Campaigns, but right now, I’m finding more wins than losses. Your AdWords campaign is now spending about $50,000 a month. Not pocket change, but still modest. Google hasn’t treated you to Lobster Thermidor lately, or comped you Bublé tickets. You ask Ricky, your […]
The Great Enhanced Campaigns War of 2013: The Surprising Winner
As Google rolls out Enhanced Campaigns, many advertisers are petrified that prices will rise. Like all great rulers, Google has grand ambitions and a continuing need to finance them. While it has no shortage of cash on hand, its continuing source of cash – targeted clicks – has faced downward pricing pressure of late. Wall […]
Building the Anti-Fragile PPC Campaign
Learning better decision-making by understanding basic statistics. Part one in a two-part series. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of “The Black Swan,” has been an unexpected and much-appreciated influence on my view of the complex world of PPC keyword advertising. I’ve searched somewhat in vain for analogies in our field that map well to the scenarios […]
