Running a Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaign with Google AdWords is not a “set it and forget it” exercise.  It must be managed closely to identify what is working in the campaign and what is not.  The success of any PPC campaign is not in the initial development of the campaign, but rather the optimization techniques applied as the campaign progresses.  One of the best ways to monitor the performance of your PPC campaign is to analyze your ad’s conversion rates based on where the ads appear.

Before you start this monitoring process, it’s a good idea to tweak keyword bids and match types to allow your ads to be placed in different positions within the Sponsored Links.  Ideally, you want to have your ads fall into one of the top 3 positions since most of the high quality clicks come from these locations.  But is it better to always be in the number 1 position?  More often than not, you will have to pay a higher cost per click to lock up the top spot.  Is it possible you can have a better conversion rate when your ads show in position 2 or 3, instead of the top spot?  This is important campaign intelligence to have since those lower positions usually call for a lower click cost.  When you convert those visitors coming in at a lower cost per click you essentially lower your cost per conversion and increase campaign efficiency.

An excellent way to analyze these events is through Google Analytics (GA).  When you first log into GA, click on the Traffic Sources link in the left-hand navigation.  You will see in the sub-navigation under Traffic Sources a link for Adwords beta.  By clicking on this AdWords beta link in GA, it opens up multiple sub-navigations for you to pull reports from your Google AdWords campaign.  One of the options to choose from is Keyword Positions.  Once you are in this section of the GA interface, you can review your top keywords by a number of different metrics, including Goal Conversion Rate (see screenshot below).

As you can see from this particular example, the highest conversion rate is not from the “Top 1” position.  In fact, position 2 on the right hand side of the Sponsored links in Google has the highest conversion rate in this campaign.  This type of business intelligence can go a long way in optimizing your campaign and getting the most out of your advertising dollar.  By readjusting bid amounts and testing different match types, you can zero-in on the right bid and match type combination to land in the desired ad position that has proven to convert at the highest percentage.  You may find after careful analysis, you don’t need to pay as much as you thought for quality visitors and conversions within your PPC campaigns!

Remarketing or behavioral targeting campaigns can be a tricky proposition for many businesses.  It’s important to reach out to current customers and equally as important to reach out to people who visit your site whether they complete a desired conversion or not.  With privacy issues and Facebook making headlines everyday, the last thing you want to do is come across like “Big Brother” watching your site visitor’s every move.  However, you can incorporate some basic fundamentals into a remarketing campaign to overcome any stigmatism that comes along with tracking visitor engagement.

First and foremost, be sure to have a privacy policy statement on your website clearly stating you are using a cookie based tracking system.  Google, for example, explains how to address this in their AdWords Help section as follows:

If you’re using the remarketing feature, you must have an appropriate description of your use of remarketing in online advertising. The description must be included in the privacy policies of all sites that include the remarketing tag.

The privacy policies should include the following information:

• Third party vendors, including Google, show your ads on sites on the internet.
• Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to your website.
• Users may opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page. (Alternatively you can point users to opt out of a third party vendor’s use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page.)

Once you have that in place, the success of your remarketing campaign comes down to two basic factors: identify who you want to remarket to and the message you want to convey.  This is very important because the audience you are targeting and the message you display in your ads must be cohesive.  For example, if you are remarketing to people who visited your site, but abandoned the shopping cart, the remarketing ad copy should have a clear call to action on why it is beneficial to re-visit your website and complete their purchase.  Providing an incentive, a free giveaway or special discount code is a great way to convince that visitor they made the right decision by visiting your site in the first place and that you want their business.  If you are targeting people who visited your About Us section, ad copy detailing the strengths of your company, how long you have been in business or awards you have won can be powerful remarketing messages. 

Mapping out your strategy is important to the success of your marketing plan.  When running a remarketing campaign you must be clear with your privacy policy, you need to know your audience and create a message geared specifically to them.

In some of my recent blog articles, I have discussed the growth of mobile marketing as it relates to the boom in SmartPhone sales.  This tremendous growth has provided an opportunity for businesses to look toward mobile users as a source of potential revenue by promoting their company to this burgeoning user base.  There are a number of opportunities for businesses to make a splash in the mobile market no matter how big or small.  A neighborhood pizzeria can benefit from a local marketing campaign targeting mobile users who rely on their phones to find restaurants while “on the go”, think Google Maps and Yahoo Local Maps.  This is an obvious case of how local marketing and mobile phones work hand in hand for local businesses.  But even the big players are jumping in head first (and dollars first) into the mobile market.

Verizon Wireless recently signed a deal with the NFL to be their official wireless sponsor to the tune of $720 million dollars over the next 4 years!  That’s a significant investment (and endorsement) which speaks volumes to how Verizon sees the future of mobile marketing.  Prior to signing the deal, I imagine Verizon crunched the numbers on how they can recoup the investment in partnering with the biggest sport in the US.  It is a major deal for Verizon, one which they were able to land while competing with Sprint for the title of “Official Wireless Sponsor of the NFL”.  Verizon Wireless operates the largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 91 million customers, and now those customers have access to exclusive content from the NFL on their mobile phones.  Who would have thought 5 or 10 years ago, you would be able to watch highlights of the NFL on your cell phone?

John Stratton, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Verizon Wireless spoke of the deal, “For Verizon Wireless, it is NFL content delivered over our 3G network so football fans can extend the excitement of the sport long after the last touchdown of a season. And the NFL content is customizable in that consumers have options from video to ringtones to alerts; the choice is theirs.”  This quote gives you a glimpse of how Verizon sees this deal as a way to increase not only their brand, but drive future revenues from mobile users who have an insatiable appetite for everything cutting edge.