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Tommy Lee is group manager at Zango, an online media company that automates and monetizes relationships between content creators, Web publishers and advertisers of all sizes. Tommy can be reached at tommyl@zango.com

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Unlocking Keyword Success: Five Steps to Make Your Keyword Campaign Click

Written on
March 2nd 2007
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by Tommy Lee  |
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Whether you are brand new to the keyword advertising space or a veteran with your Google Qualified AdWords Professional or Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador banner proudly displayed on your homepage, you can benefit from five easy steps to make your campaign a success.

1. Know Your CPA/CPL (Cost Per Acquisition/Cost Per Lead)

Before you start any advertising for your Web site, know exactly how much you are willing to pay for a conversion. This will be the basis for all of your keyword advertising and will allow you to spend your money in the most cost-efficient manner possible. You don’t want to spend $50 on keyword advertising to drive a customer that only brings in $10 of revenue, right?

2. Choose Keywords Wisely

Having a mix of broad and precise keywords will allow you to figure out exactly what works for you. Create separate campaigns, one for broad keywords and one for more precise keywords. A broad keyword, for example, is “cruise,” whereas a more precise keyword to also test might be “cheap bahama cruise.”

Each type of keyword — broad and precise — has its own benefits. Broad keywords will yield higher impression numbers but won’t necessarily prompt many conversions, while precise keywords won’t garner the same level of exposure but will likely result in a higher percentage of conversions.

3. Track Conversions

Whether you’re tracking pixels or a unique link for each keyword through your weblog, the important thing is to track your conversions! Online advertising differs from any other advertising medium in that you can — and should — track everything. The more granular at which you can look at your campaigns, the better you can maximize your advertising dollars. Knowing which specific keywords do and don’t work allows you to spend more on those projects that yield the highest ROI (return on investment).

4. Test, Test, Test, and Test.

Numerous factors contribute to conversion effectiveness during campaigns, including keywords, landing pages, Web site navigation and ad text, to name a few. Anything potential new customers come into contact with when they conduct a search using one of your purchased terms affects whether or not they will ultimately buy from you. Brush up on your Excel skills and track all of your tests. Knowing what keyword combinations work with what landing pages are simple changes you have complete control over and can lead to increased conversions. Setting up test campaigns separate from your main campaign will allow you to experiment with different variables while still maintaining your existing conversions.

5. Utilize Your Account Manager

All reputable online advertising sources provide an account manager. Whether your contact is a career manager or a help alias, make sure you take full advantage of his or her product expertise. While keyword campaigns, in general, are very similar to one another, there are always specific nuances only entrenched professionals will know. Simply copying over what you are doing from one company to another is not always a correct or profitable strategy.

The search marketing company for which I work, for example, will even manage campaigns for you by providing a CPA target to hit. Account managers can give you a clear picture of how similar Web sites are converting within their network.

Managing a keyword campaign can quickly turn into an overwhelming experience, but if you stick to the above five tips you’ll be a pro in no time.



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