Articles in The 'click-through-rate' Tag

Holiday Season Is Over But Creativity and Diligence Remain

by Gerard Tollefsen

Another holiday season in the books, did you meet your goals?  There are still plenty of customers out there shopping, so its time to get creative with new ad messaging.  In addition, make sure those holiday ads are pulled down.

As we move into the 1st quarter of 2011, you are going to see plenty of post holiday specials.  When running a Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaign, you need to be imaginative with your message to attract customers.  Many companies run big sales on overstock products, but how do you separate yourself from the competition?  Price is always a big attention getter, but if you simply offer deep discounts in your ads, you will merely be bunched into a large group of similar companies saying the same thing.  Yes, you have a “Clearance Sale” and so do the other 50 PPC ads competing for the first page!  Think about inventive ways to attract customers beyond just the slashing of prices.  Think about using humor or word play to make your ad copy stand out.  Strategies such as these can be just as attractive for a searcher, if not more eye catching, than seeing another post-holiday sale offer.  Once they get to your site, you can clearly show they are getting the great deal they expect with compelling landing page content.

While planning out a creative strategy for your post holiday campaigns, make sure you terminate any ads specifically written for the holiday rush.  One of the quickest ways to turn off a customer is to have active ads promoting a sale that is no longer in place.  You are almost certain to see high click-through rates, higher bounce rates, and very low conversions if you are not closely managing your seasonal ad copy.  Additionally, if you have selling points like “Buy Now to arrive before Christmas” in ads still running in the month of January you can be sure customers will be turned off by your lack due diligence.  I am always surprised by the number of PPC campaigns that are too slow to adjust to the changes in the season.  I don’t think I am alone in ignoring campaigns that offer 25% discounts on orders placed before December 22nd when I am searching on January 4th.

These two concepts may seem elementary but they can go a long way to differentiate your company from the competition.  Do not assume everyone is being as creative and diligent with their ads because the fact is, they are not.  Conduct a few searches yourself to see what’s being promoted in ads for your top keywords.  Avoid the temptation to follow the herd with bland “clearance sale” ad copy and stand out from the pack with ingenuity.  Lastly, and I cannot stress this enough, pull down those outdated holiday ads.

Stay On Top of Your Search Engine Marketing Efforts

by Ryan Faria

Any advertiser who participates in search engine marketing understands the importance of having your ads seen.  Constantly monitoring keyword cost per clicks can be difficult for just a search campaign, never mind a content campaign.  Because your ads are appearing on such a wide array of relevant sites within the content network; indicating the ad position in each site can be daunting.

Recently, Google has modified the options for content campaigns.  While excluding category types is not a new function, the ‘below the fold’ exclusion is new.  What does ‘below the fold’ mean?  According to Google, below the fold ad placements occur ‘when people need to scroll down a page to see your ads. If ads are visible immediately when someone visits a page, those ads are above the fold.’

This new feature is invaluable to ensuring that searchers are, in fact, seeing your ads.  Online advertisers have long awaited an exclusion feature such the below the fold option to not only automate content campaign ads, but improve click through rate (CTR).  Traditionally, content campaign campaigns tend to have an extremely low CTR. A low CTR indicates that your ads are being displayed, but are not being clicked on.  Even though, the searcher may not see the ad, due to its position, it is still counted as an impression.  However, the potential to greatly improve the CTR in content campaign is now possible. 

Test this option in your content campaign by accessing the exclusion option and selecting the ‘below the fold’ as a category exclusion.  Utilizing this tool is just one more way to help you stay on top of your competition.

Trademark Strengthens Click-Thru Rate

by Nydia Davis

A trademark is a word, phrase, logo, or symbol that identifies and distinguishes a product or service from others in the marketplace, especially those who can bid on your keywords. If you use your trademark symbol in your ad text, it should increase your click-thru rate.
With Google AdWords, advertisers may select trademarked terms as keywords or use them in the content of the ad. As a provider of space for advertisements, Google is not in a position to arbitrate trademark disputes between advertisers and trademark owners. Accordingly, Google encourages trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with the advertiser. As a courtesy to trademark owners, Google is willing to perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints.
If you are the trademark owner of your product, you should consider using registered ® or trademarks â„¢ in your ad text. This will distinguish your ad from other resellers. This also shows searchers credibility and reliability. After implementing these changes to your ad text, your click-thru rates should be favorably impacted.

Brand awareness can be underestimated, but if you are the registered or trademark owner of a brand or company, include this symbols in your branding ad copy. As a shortcut for these symbols use the following keyboard short cuts:

Registered- Alt ctrl+r= ®
Trademark- Alt ctrl+t=™