SEM
understanding and mastering search engine marketing
“For most people, Google and other search engines are essential tools to navigate the web. But the workings of the text ads, the blurbs that peddle goods and services on the search results pages, are largely hidden from web users.
For more than one million businesses, Google’s search advertising system is like a hose inundating websites with traffic. Managing it effectively, though, is as much art as it is science. It requires a mix of analytics and gamesmanship, a combination of skills that has become vitally important in the Internet age…
Many industry insiders say search engine marketing, as the practice is known, is one of the most effective forms of advertising ever devised."
Source: “The Science of Managing Search Ads,” The New York Times, December 21, 2009
You Have A Google AdWords Program, Right? Or Do You?
“Search ads are bought from Google through an auction, and businesses pay Google only when someone clicks on their ad. An ad’s position on Google’s search results pages depends on Google’s secret formula derived from bid prices, the rate at which users previously clicked on the ad and a ‘quality score’ determined by Google.
Since not all clicks turn into purchases, the trick for advertisers is to make sure that the amount they bid, multiplied by the average number of clicks needed to make a sale—the cost of acquiring a customer—does not exceed the profit derived from that sale. But that can be easier said than done.”
Source: “The Science of Managing Search Ads,” The New York Times, December 21, 2009
Make Or Buy?
That’s always the critical decision for any company. We tend to make goods and services that fall within our sweet spot. We consider buying all those things that do not. Sometimes we try “making” something only to discover what appears easy on its face turns out to be much more complex on second blush. Inevitably, we ask, “Should I commit my scarce resources to this task?”
It Seems So Easy
A keyword campaign is only one facet of an online advertising campaign but let’s begin here. There are four steps to a pay-per-click campaign:
- Identify key categories or ad groups to promote
- Define an annual budget for all ad groups
- Choose keywords for your ad groups
- Tend your garden (monitor, weed, report)
AdWords is run like a live auction. When someone clicks on your ad, the auction is initiated in one penny increments. You only pay when a user clicks on your ad and is linked to your site. You set your maximum bid in advance. Done poorly, you can run through your month’s ad budget in a day. Click costs can range from a nickel to a Jackson (Couldn’t resist. That’s $20.) with an industry average of about $1.40 per click. Done well, you can find the right combination that works for your firm. Begin with a test budget.
Not So Easy To Do Well
Anyone can plant a garden. The trick is to make the garden grow. And this is exactly where so many Google gardeners show their black thumbs because this particular garden requires constant tending. An AdWords campaign requires that you:
- Crunch the numbers
- Compare ad groups to the site average
- Feed and water the best and pull the others
- Give them the right amount of sun
- Move them from bed to bed where they will flourish
Okay, easy on the gardening shtick. But even a casual gardener will get the picture. Why do so many plants die? It’s not hard to figure out, really. Mostly, it’s science.
Tending The Garden
1. Select the right keywords
Piece of cake, right? Well, let’s see. Our latest search for “litigation” turned up over 40,000,000 results! How do people search exactly? What are reasonable objectives? (Is being #1 my goal? Certainly that’s ideal, but most budgets would be expended early in the day and your keywords then go dark. A better goal is to be visible throughout the day.)
To maximize your return, choose multiple phrases. Include synonyms and variations, abbreviations and related keywords plus misspellings and negative keywords. Use online services to help. Optimize pages for keyword phrases. Eliminate (usually) “stop words.” All of these variations can drive high-quality traffic to your site.
2. Look for expert ad copy and analysis
When your firm’s name is delivered to searchers, even small changes in copy can make a dramatic difference. You are allowed 95 characters to pitch a prospect viewing the search results page. Ad copy-testing techniques can improve click-thru rates and drive down the cost per conversion.
3. Optimize the campaign
It takes time to discover how our ad groups and keywords are performing. You need—or someone does—to study the results and draw conclusions. Review your choices. Work to filter out bad clicks. We have taken what appeared to be a perfectly reasonable suite of keywords and turned them inside out in order to respond to actual user behavior, decrease our costs, manage our budget and improve our results.
4. Geographic targeting
A client audit will tell you where your work comes from. Armed with that information, you can target keywords geographically for precise and efficient use of your budget. Your targeting should reflect a combination of the firm’s realities and its aspirations. You can experiment and adjust. Wipe on, wipe off. A responsible AdWords campaign demands nothing less. “Plant it and forget it” is not an option in this garden.
5. Follow breaking news or big events
News and events drive viewers to the Internet. Your services may be closely linked to either. Smart marketers are able to turn on a dime and connect their AdWords to the rambles of the chattering class; e.g. white collar defense lawyers might find value running alongside news events of insider trading or hedge-fund fraud for the duration of the news cycle.
The run-up to important industry conferences is also an opportunity to share the limelight with industry heavyweights even if you are not at the conference.
6. Rethink your bottom line
Traditional offline advertising suddenly sounds easy, doesn’t it? Before you lose any more time deciding whether to jump on board or sit on the sidelines, call us. We can help.
