Great chart that I felt led to share with my followers .. Enjoy.  (view larger)

source:  PPCBlog

Taking a little time to organize your account can help you to better target your potential customers. It can also save you time and effort when it comes to managing your advertising.

The video below will show you how a few minor changes to your account structure can make a big difference to your advertising performance.

On a snow day like today and in between the frequent trips outside to shovel the sidewalks, I can’t help but watch the snowflakes fall from the sky.  It’s a very beautiful thing to admire and looks so peaceful when stuck to the tree branches.

As I watch the snowflakes and do what I do best (and that’s to try and relate my surroundings to how I do business), I cant help but think …  ”What if each of those snowflakes was a potential customer?”  There are many different shapes, different sizes, some fall faster than others and some just don’t make it to the ground, the get stuck on roof tops or tree tops and never get to the desired landing area.

The question I ask myself is … “How would I catch as many of them as possible with a bottle that just sits there waiting to be filled up?” (in this case, the bottle represents your web site)  If you think you are going to catch every snowflake, you are crazy. You will never catch all of them, and in most cases even the ones you do catch are not going to be the ones you had hoped for.

What’s the purpose of this off topic rant, you ask?  Well, in my ADD brain I can’t help but relate this to lead generation and targeted marketing strategies. When you develop a method to guide those snowflakes to the location you want them, you are creating an effective funnel that collects the snowflakes for you. Think of this funnel as your sales process, you can use targeted Google AdWords campaigns to reach out and guide these flakes towards the funnel. Once they land on the funnel they start making the trip down the tube into the bottle.  The tube being the “Auto Responder Campaign” that leads them into the bottle over a pre-determined time frame, and the bottle, being the website that encourages the sale or the conversion.

How well do you catch snowflakes?  Are you catching them with a funnel or are you catching them with your bare hands?

I will leave you with a final note:  Last time I cought a snowflake with my bare hands it melted within seconds!  WOW … that means (in my mind) I just turned that potential lead or customer into nothing.  No communication, co sales pitch, no conversion.

What’s your next move?

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Have you ever used Google’s search-based keyword tool? The tool was launched last November. It was designed to enable paid search advertisers to get more ideas for keywords that could drive people to their sites.

What is the Search-based Keyword Tool?

The Search-based Keyword Tool generates keyword and landing page ideas highly relevant and specific to your website. In doing so, the tool helps you identify additional advertising opportunities that aren’t currently being used in your AdWords ad campaigns. The tool goes one step further by tailoring the keywords and other data (such as the amount of competition for the keyword, the suggested bid, and more) based on your language or country/territory settings.

Based on your URLs, the Search-based Keyword Tool displays a list of relevant user queries that have occurred on Google.com (and on other Google search properties, such as google.co.uk) with some frequency over the past year; these suggestions can be found under the Keywords tab, in the New keywords related to (site) section. In the Keywords related to your search section, you can see a broad list of keyword ideas that are also relevant, but aren’t necessarily based on your site.

The keywords are also organized by category. Click any category to expand and view its subcategories. If applicable, you’ll also see the keywords organized by brand names.

How does the Search-based Keyword Tool generate its keyword ideas?

The Search-based Keyword Tool compares your website and current AdWords campaigns against actual, past Google search queries to identify additional keywords that might be relevant for your campaigns. The tool compiles a list of search queries relevant to your website that don’t already appear in your AdWords campaigns. By changing your language or country/territory settings, you can view keywords (and corresponding data, such as the amount of competition, suggested bid, etc.) specific to those settings.

See more information on how the Google Search -based Keyword Tool works:  Google Search Based Keyword Tool

Landing page optimization and testing can have a dramatic impact on your online marketing profitability. But even without testing you can quickly eliminate several common mistakes that can instantly skyrocket conversion rates.

These approaches work across a surprisingly wide variety of circumstances and industries:

1. Remove Choices

You should be very clear about your desired conversion action (whether it’s a sale, download, form-fill, or simply a click-through to another page). All other clickable links or choices on the page should be eliminated, or at least visually de-emphasized.

2. Keep Your Promises

Your visitors arrived from somewhere, and an expectation was set before they even landed on your page. This could have been in your PPC ad, a third-party blog posting, or a comparison shopping engine. Make sure that you understand the context from which they arrived. It’s critical to align the content of your landing page with their intent and expectations.

3. Don’t Be Loud

Minimize visual distractions as much as possible. Don’t use a wide variety of font styles, colors, and sizes on your page. Remove images and interactive rich-media content unless it directly supports your conversion goal and is a clearly superior way of conveying important information. Bland landing pages are often the best-converting ones.

4. Reduce Anxiety

Unless you work for an internationally recognized company, you have no brand-strength or credibility with your online audience. Do everything possible to reduce anxiety on your page by using safe shopping seals and other indicators of your trustworthiness. The logos of trade associations, acceptable payment methods, and money-back guarantee seals can all be powerful ways to make your visitors feel safer.

5. Enhance Connection

People want to feel a connection to your product or service. Transferring recognition or awareness from other sources can help you reinforce their desire to act. Tastefully use logos of well-recognized client brands. Add the badges of media sources that have covered or mentioned your company. Prominently display glowing testimonials from existing customers.

6. Have a Clear Call to Action

Make sure that you spell out exactly what will happen if someone fills out the form or clicks on the desired link. Don’t clutter the area around the call to action — let it stand out by its isolation on the page.

Keep in mind that with each PPC visitor, you are being charged anywhere from .45 cents upto $12.00 for that click, and some instances (depending on your niche) maybe more. You want to ensure that your Call-to-Action dominates the page and encourages the visitor to click.  Use colors, text styles, catchy phrases, facts etc.  If you know your market you will know what they want to see.

7. Cut Down Your Text

People don’t read on the Web. Study after study has shown that less content on a landing page leads to higher conversion rates. Ruthlessly edit your text down to simple headlines and short, bulleted lists. Cut out the self-promoting marketing speak that people won’t read anyway. You can link to detailed information on supporting pages.

Follow these best practices and your cash register will be ringing more often.

Call NOW to schedule a FREE 15 minute coaching call. 559-ADWORDS

Even if you’re satisfied with your account’s performance, it’s a good idea to fine-tune. Here are some tips to help get you started.

First Things First

• Identify your ad/optimization objectives. Is your goal to increase clicks, conversions or both?
• Know your audience (Teenagers? Business owners? Shoppers? Men? Women?)
• Are the products/services you offer organized in a concise & clear manner on your website?

Once you have answered these questions, read the tips below for “Keyword Selection”, “Ad Copy”, “Landing Page”, “Targeting” & “Bid Management” optimization ideas.

1.    Keyword Selection

• Make sure the keywords are relevant to your site. Selecting the right keywords is key to attracting customers as they are more likely to spend more time and money on your site if they find what they are looking for right away.
• Know your niche and the keywords/phrases associated to your products and services. Make sure you have a good balance between general and specific keywords and phrases that relate the content of your pages.
• General keywords will drive volume to your site as well as customers that don’t have a specific product in mind or that are open to various product offerings. Specific keywords drive highly qualified customers that have a specific product, service or offering in mind. *This would be your Niche
• Avoid selecting keywords that are too general. These may drive users that are looking for entirely different products or markets that are not part of your website.
• Use the following strategy to select keywords:
  • General & specific terms related to your website
  • General & specific terms used by competitor websites
  • General & specific terms related to your niche market
  • For product keywords, be sure to also include model numbers/letters if applicable
• Example Campaign: Online Job Site
  • Select general terms: ?jobs, career, employment, resume
  • Avoid too general terms: ?education, health, sales, engineering, nursing
  • Select targeted terms: ?job listings, job search, online jobs, online job search, job opportunities, employment opportunities, job postings, online job search
  • Select highly targeted terms: ?nursing careers, careers in healthcare, sales jobs new york, nursing jobs new york, advertising jobs seattle, engineering jobs, accounting careers, jobs in education, teaching positions, job listings los angeles, job listings Chicago
  • Include negative terms to avoid irrelevant terms associated with a particular keyword: ?For “job”, include negative terms such as “blow”, “hand”, “nose”, “discrimination”

2.    Ad Copy

• Include the keyword in the title and description. Users are more likely to click on listings in which the keyword is included in the title and description.
• Include call to action terms in your ad copy: “Buy”, “Send”, “Order”, “Save”, “Purchase”
• Include special offers or promotions: “Free Shipping”, “25% Off”, “Get Rebate”
• Highlight seasonal events: Holidays, Valentine’s Day, Back-To-School, Halloween
• Ad Copy Example: Valentine’s Day
  • Save On Valentine’s Gifts?
    Shop Jewelry, Candy, Flowers & More
    Save 30% On All Valentines Gifts!
    www.AskFlowers.com/Valentines

3.    Landing Page

• Make sure the landing page is relevant to the keyword. Avoid sending users to general pages or to your site’s homepage. As previously mentioned, customers are more likely to spend more time and money on your site if they find what they are looking for right away.
• The best practice is to have each ad group lead to a unique landing page, which is tied conceptually to the keywords. Grouping like keywords and tying these groups to a unique landing page is a good alternative strategy.
• Avoid sending users to pages with search results. Sending the user from one group of search results to another group of search results hurts performance as it creates an unnecessary burden on the user and as it increases the chances that non-relevant search results may appear.

4.    Targeting

Broad vs Exact Match:

• Broad matching pluses:? Allows for more comprehensive targeting; increases click volume and allows the advertiser to capture search combinations not captured by their keyword list.
• Broad matching minuses:? Increases chances of capturing clicks from an unintended audience and lowering CTR by serving listings to non-relevant search results. Recommended to be used with 2+ keyword combinations, unless single term is highly targeted.
• Exact matching pluses:? Allows for more limited targeting; reduces chances of capturing clicks from an unintended audience and lowering CTR by serving listings to non-relevant search results.
• Exact matching minuses:? May be too limiting; majority of searches on Google.com search using 2+ keywords in their query string. Recommended only for keywords that are too general.
• Negative matching (Using Keyword Negatives with Broad matching):? Negative keywords stop listings from being displayed on selected non-relevant search results.

5.    Bid Management

• Bid into the top 3 positions to maximize exposure. Sometimes #3 spot is better than #1, you have to test them both and see which has the higher ROI.
• Group listings into categories/groupings in order of importance.
• Bid high on keywords with high performance or with main business drivers.
• Adjust bids regularly depending on bid landscape to retain top position and desired ROI metrics. (Note: do not change to often as you will want atleast 5 days of data to evaluate the performance.)
• Set and adjust your maximum bids and your daily budget according to desired ROI metrics. Adjust these to increase/decrease click volume to maintain ROI performance.

If you would like to have me give your Google Adwords account a honest evaluation, sign up for my FREE 15 minute coaching call.

In addition, if you are looking for someone to manage your account and fine-tune the settings listed above contact me directly at info [at] jasontrump.com.