GoHuman Blog

1)     Campaigns

What is your goal? Direct Response? Branding? What are you trying to market? Who is your audience? Where are you marketing? In a previous blog, I discussed how to determine your location and language targeting. When organizing your campaign, think about your product or service. It’s best to model your campaign(s) as closely to your website as possible. Campaigns can be organized by location, language, product, brands, distribution preferences, and budgets. If you have a website and you offer many different products, consider setting up a campaign for each of those products. For instance, if you sell coffee and tea through your website, you would want to set up a campaign for coffee, and a separate campaign for tea. You also control the budget and other settings at this level, so if you have a monthly amount allotted for PPC advertising, take that amount and divide it by your campaigns and then divide by 30 (average days in a month) to come up with your daily budget. If one campaign performs better than another, you can revise your budget at any time.

2)     Ad Groups

Ad groups further define the campaign and you can have thousands if need be. An ad group contains a unique set of keywords not found in your other ad groups, as well as one or more ads. Your ad groups should reflect a specific product or service and be tightly themed together. If you sell roasted coffee and organic coffee, you will create an ad group that will contain keywords and ads specifically for roasted coffee, and a separate group for organic coffee. The Ad Group tab is also a great way to monitor and manage your ad performance. At this level you can set an amount for the default maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for your keywords.

3)     Ads

Text ads are the most common and basic ads used (we’ll discuss different ad formats in another blog).  For most languages, text ads can contain 25 characters for the title including spaces, 70 characters for the ad text, and 35 characters for a display URL. Google usually displays this on four lines, but it may appear differently on Google partner sites. There are also policies and guidelines for what content is not allowed, so be sure that you are aware of what those guidelines are, depending on the PPC platform you use. Limited space means your ad needs to be eye catching and to the point. Use keywords from your keyword list whenever possible and by doing so, the keyword will be bolded in the ad text when queried. If your ad includes a price, free offer, or discount, it needs to be visible and clear within at least 2 clicks of your website. Write clear, concise ads and use strong call to action words such as Buy, Purchase, Order, and Sign Up Today. Create several variations of ads within the ad group and then analyze after some time to determine what the best performing ad is.

 4)     Keywords

The keyword list is really the “key” to your success. There are many tools you can use to evaluate your keyword list, but the best tool is really your own website. Tying in the keywords from your website will drastically improve your quality score, which in the long run will bring down the overall cost-per-click.  In creating your list, try to keep it to 20-30 tightly-themed terms and use keywords with two- or three-word phrases. If your keywords are too broad, you’ll receive lots of clicks but very few conversions. You will want to add a variety of keyword types and after some time, determine the best performing keywords.  Keyword types are as follows:

• Broad Match – these words in any order or combination will trigger your ad when organic or coffee is queried
• Phrase Match – these words in the exact order will trigger your ad when “organic coffee” is queried but also when another word is added before or after the phrase (i.e. “wild organic coffee”)
• Exact Match – these words will trigger your ad the exact match [organic coffee] is queried
• Negative – these words will not trigger your ad when the certain phrases are queried such as “-free organic coffee”

There is so much more to discuss when creating an effective and relevant campaign, but if you follow these four steps, you will be on your way to creating a great pay-per-click campaign with impressive results! What are you waiting for?

• A certified professional, such as a Google Qualified Individual, must get re-certified every year. This involves taking the fundamentals exam every two years and one of three advanced exams every year. This is a big commitment because each test costs money and requires two hours of testing (not including study time). Do you really want to take the time to learn the intricacies of pay-per-click?
• A certified professional receives timely updates and news that can impact and ultimately improve your campaign.
• A certified professional will learn what it takes to reach your goals (increased ROI, optimize your campaigns, etc.)
• As a client, you dictate how little or how much you want to be involved in your campaign.
• You control the overall budget/ad spend
• A certified professional will create personalized reports that help you to understand your campaign’s progression
• A certified professional works for YOU!

What should you look for in hiring a certified professional?

A certified professional will:

• Have an official certification badge; when you click on the badge it should directly link you to a legal certification page
• Works for you and learns your culture/product
• Never over-promise and under-deliver (i.e. “we guarantee your keyword will be in the in the #1 slot on Google searches”; BEWARE – this may end up costing you an arm and a leg)
• Seek to understand your goals (increase ROI, increase clicks, branding)
• Ask a multitude of questions
• Communicate with you

How much does it cost?

Every certified professional has a different way of pricing his services. Some define an hourly fee ($35-$150), with a minimum monthly retainer (5-10 hours per month).  Some have a sliding scale depending on the client’s monthly ad spend and size of business, and some prefer to receive a percentage (10%-20%) of the monthly ad spend. Find the fee structure that works best for you!

When I acquire a new client, I require a few things:

1.  If the client does not already have a Google AdWords account, he must create one by visiting here.
2. The client must add his billing information (credit card or banking info). I do not pay for the client’s ad spend, rather, that is deducted automatically from his credit card and is between him and Google.
3.  Set a monthly budget he’s comfortable with (start smaller and you can always increase as your business prospers)
4.  Client sends me his 10 digit ID# which I then link to my AdWords umbrella account (aka “My Client Center”). This allows me to use my own account rather than memorizing the clients username and password.
5.  Client fills out a comprehensive questionnaire to determine goals, business culture, products, targeted location and language, keywords, and landing page(s).
6.  Set up expectations from the beginning in regard to milestones, reporting, cost per click, and budget.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to test out pay-per-click advertising from a certified professional, take advantage of GoHuman’s 12-week small, local business contest, Change the Way GoHuman Works for You! The contest officially launched on Thursday, March 22, 2012 and will end Thursday, June 14, 2012. During the course of this contest, we’ll be delivering over $4,500 in marketing services to four small, local businesses in Santa Fe / New Mexico, Atlanta, Chicago and our grand prize winner will be anywhere in the USA!

Yes, you read that right – $4,500.  GoHuman has just upped the value of the contest by $1,000.  What are you waiting for?

Parlez-vous anglais?

Targeting your campaign’s language goes hand-in-hand with location. When you create your ads, they will appear in the language in which you created them. So, if you create ads and keywords in French, your targeted language should be French. Google detects users’ interface language settings when determining the ads to show when queried; it will not translate your ads into any other languages.

In most cases, the language you target will directly relate to the audience you are trying to reach. However, there are a few cases where it would be appropriate to target every language. As an example, I have a client who offers a specific e-commerce product to those for whom English is a second language. I target all languages and all countries (except non-converting countries) because anyone using the English keyword with a negligible command of the English language would still be a potential customer.

Best Practices

Here are some suggested best practices for targeting languages and locations that can be applied towards Adwords or Microsoft adCenter, as quoted from Google’s Learning Center:

• Before setting location targeting, enter your keywords into Google Insights for Search to find out which locations receive the most queries for your keyword. You can then alter your bid and budgets appropriately, raising them for the location with the most traffic, and lowering them for the others.
• After your location targeting is set and your campaign has been running for a time, use a Geographic Performance report or Google Analytics to see where your users are coming from. Adjust your budgets, bids, or messages according to how the ads perform in different regions.
• If your Geographic Performance report or Google Analytics shows that you’re consistently getting clicks with a low conversion rate from certain regions, or clicks from regions where you don’t want your ads to show, consider specifically excluding the region from your targeting.
• For example, let’s say you run an online store that ships products to all of the United States except Hawaii and Alaska. You can target your campaign to the U.S. and exclude those two states.
• Point your ads to a specific landing page for your targeted region, if you have such a page.
• If you’d like to highlight the address of your business, add location extensions to your ads.

One excellent tool to help you advertise online is to post your product or service on GoHuman. Much like Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter, GoHuman allows you to target your location based on your local zip code or city. The world can truly be your oyster!

Do you ever feel like you’re fishing for customers? Sometimes they bite because they’re actually looking for your services, and other times you snag ‘em through the power of suggestion — a.k.a. advertising.

Let’s take a look at two main categories in online advertising: direct response and branding.  Knowing which one to use in your business can mean the difference between a client ready to buy/purchase (direct response = hungry fish) and one who is only aware of your business (branding = snagging fish).

Direct Response

Direct Response Advertisers are primarily trying to drive a high number of conversions at the lowest possible price. A conversion is an action undertaken by a user that is deemed valuable by the advertiser, such as a sale, purchase, or sign up. Using cost-per-click (CPC), you only pay when a customer clicks on your ad.  A customer searching for your product/service through a search engine (like Google Search) will click on the compelling ad copy which will take him directly to the relevant web page.  A customer searching for your product/service is generally further along in the buying process and therefore ready to make a sale.

Branding

If you are trying to raise the awareness and visibility of your product, service, or cause, you want to place your ads in front of as many people as possible within your target audience. This is called branding. Using cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) means you set a designated amount (what is it worth to you) on how much you are willing to pay per thousand impressions and then are charged only for every thousand impressions, not the clicks. Utilizing Google’s Display Network allows you to show ads on other relevant websites using contextual keywords from your keywords list.  The Display Network uses various ad formats to achieve this: text ads, banner/image ads, mobile ads, and video ads.

And of course, don’t forget to sign up to advertise on GoHuman…for free! You can’t beat free!

So next time you’re fishing for customers, use the online advertising option above that is right for YOUR unique business. Happy fishing!

We’ll start with a couple more relevant definitions. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process whereby a website or web page is made more visible via the organic (free) listing. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the process of promoting and marketing a website through paid listings (advertisements) on search engines. SEM can include elements of SEO, but not vice versa.

In the realm of search engine marketing (SEM/paid listings), a wealth of options exist and if you’re not careful, you can throw your hard-earned money away on a “little of this” and a “little of that” and not get a great return on your investment (ROI).

Ads on most search engines operate on a PPC (pay-per-click) model, meaning that you pay only when a user clicks your ad, and not for the ad impression (the instance in which the ad appears on the page in response to a query). Another common and useful pricing model in online advertising is cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), in which you pay per impression, not for any clicks on your ad. How and when to use CPM will be covered in more detail in a future blog.

Let’s explore the top search engine options currently available to you. The three most notable paid advertising search engines are Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft/Bing. Google continues to dominate the scene with nearly 65% of the market share, while Yahoo and Microsoft/Bing are battling it out for second place, at 15.1% and 15% of the market share, respectively.

All three search engines utilize the “bidding” option, whereby you determine a monthly spend (this is your budget) and then figure out how much you are willing to pay for each click. You set your maximum bid (i.e. $0.45/click) and depending on a variety of factors such as the keyword competition, geography, and relevant content, your ad will appear.

Now let’s throw another tool into the mix: social media advertising. There’s been a lot of talk about social media and quite frankly, who isn’t familiar with Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube? But Facebook is more than just a way to reconnect with high school friends or to share pictures. Facebook, like LinkedIn and YouTube, now offers paid advertising. The difference between search engine marketing and social media marketing is that the former is primarily based on keyword queries and the latter on relevant content.

Getting the most out of SEM requires selecting the option that’s right for you. If you’re trying to appeal to a bigger audience and you want people who are searching for your product (whether it’s coffee or cameras), Google is probably your best choice. If you can afford it, also advertise on Yahoo and Microsoft/Bing. Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube are better suited for those trying to brand their product and not necessarily complete an action (ie. sale or sign-up). Social media marketing does not allow you to do a search for a product; rather, display ads will appear based on relevant content.

Rather than take a “one size fits all” approach to advertising, consider the following points in choosing the “right fit” for your small business:

• Compare the ad pricing of all three search engine options – can you afford to advertise on all three or should you choose the one that will give you the most bang for your buck?
• Consider your market – are you trying to achieve a measureable result (sale, sign up, newsletter, etc.) or are you trying to create a brand?
• Constantly re-evaluate your return on investment (ROI) goals
• Is social media relevant to your business or are you succumbing to the hype?

Don’t be pressured into parting with your hard earned money. Knowledge is your best tool when utilizing search engines or social media to market your business. And, of course, don’t forget another powerful advertising tool at your disposal, and a free one at that: posting your business on GoHuman!

 

At this early stage, determining your target market, finding the most economical solution for your particular niche, and getting a return on your investment (ROI) through branding or paid search marketing all are important issues that must be addressed. Learning the terminology and lingo surrounding those issues will enable you to make the best decisions for your business. 

rganic and paid listings appear in response to the same user query (in this case “organic coffee”), the results are independent of each other. This allows for websites that do not rank highly in the organic listing to rank at or near the top through paid searches. We’ll go into greater depth on this topic in future blog posts.

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, it pays to know what your choices are and if you’re reading this blog…CONGRATULATIONS! Because chances are, you’ve already taken advantage of GoHuman’s free search directory as a first step in marketing your business. And if you haven’t signed up yet, go to www.GoHuman.com and choose the level of service that you feel will benefit your business the most. We’re changing the way your world works!