4 Reasons Not to Break Your Campaign’s Continuity
It’s important to think about long-term strategies and compromises that minimize the damage caused to paid search ROI with needless rebuilds. In golf, there’s a phenomenon known as a “member’s bounce.” Member of posh club strides up to the tee, whacks a ball out of bounds left, yet it kicks right off a bank into […]
7 Tips to Filter Out Lame Searches
A look at some categories of meta messages that might be relevant to your ad strategy. Last time, I explained that ad formats and copy can send meta messages beyond what is literally conveyed in the text. You aren’t just trying to “convince” a pre-digested subset of willing buyers, but rather, you’re engaged in a […]
It’s Not Just the Message in Your Ad, It’s the Meta-Message
Make sure you don’t just focus on what your ads literally say, but, more importantly, on what they convey. When Google first made qualifying advertisers eligible to display a distinctive blue “Google Checkout” icon with their AdWords ads, it led many to a significant discovery. This notation, not technically part of the ad’s message, often […]
In PPC, Let Probabilities Rule Over Passion
Five reasons we change the channel to turn away from our core focus on overall rates of customer acquisition, aggregate revenue growth, and total profit. In the last column, I showed examples of shiny objects that distract us from our core missions as marketers, taking up far more of our discourse, brain cells, and time […]
Beware the Shiny Object
It’s important to add new tricks to your repertoire, but not at the expense of overall client performance. Remember the world’s formerly greatest golfer, Eldrick (We Used to Call Him Tiger) Woods? In the pursuit of shiny objects and new motor skills (like late-night text messaging), Tiger neglected to put in the hours on his […]
7 Ways Google Should Get Naked
When it comes to your product, people want to know two things: does it work and how does it work? Google, with its promise to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible, speaks the language of transparency – yet it doesn’t always practice what it preaches. But I’m betting there will be continued […]
‘Hey, So Do I!’ 5 Traits of Advanced Paid Search Managers
Do you handle situations like a rookie or a paid search pro? The secret of “being advanced” is…well…it’s sort of like “Being John Malkovich.” You have to put in your 10,000 hours. Or, as Geoffrey Colvin deftly explains in “Talent Is Overrated,” the greats in any field achieve most of it through “deliberate practice.” Lots of […]
Google’s Proactive Stance on Do Not Track
By providing consumers with the ability to opt out of tracking, will Google undermine its business? At first glance, in tacitly accepting the rumblings of the do-not-track online advertising legislation crowd, Google seems to have released an instruction manual on how to wreck Google’s business. How far can this go? Likely, Google’s proactive stance will […]
To Succeed in Paid Search, Think Inside the Box
Test and hone these four tactics and you’re bound to profit. Mavericks seem ubiquitous. Anointed (and sometimes self-appointed) radicals abound: entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban, politicians like John McCain, and even golf pro Phil Mickelson have been tagged mavericks. Think the label might be overused? Speaking of Lefty, here’s his secret. Mickelson became notorious early for […]
Turning Trust Into Dollars in Search Advertising
Why e-commerce businesses competing in paid search auctions must optimize all facets of their communications – not just keywords and bids. In PPC these days, half measures simply don’t work. E-commerce businesses competing in ferocious paid search auctions must be thorough in optimizing all facets of their consumer-facing communications – not just keywords and bids. […]
