Top 10 Paid Search Marketing Mistakes

Jon Lisbin – Principal

Frank Coyle – President

Jun 17, 2009

Webinar Logistics

• Being recorded

• Email with link will be sent out later this week

• Ask question throughout

Presentation AgendaAbout Point It

• Launched in April 2002

• Seattle’s largest independent search marketing firm

• PPC & SEO

• $30 MM in managed media, 2008

• 12 team members, 40+ yrs of SEM experience

• Servicing clients across all verticals and revenue models

Top 10 Mistakes

1. Poor budget management

2. Too many zero conversion keywords

3. Not testing ad copy

4. Not attacking the Bounce Rate

5. Failing to exploit the Sales Funnel

6. Not using landing pages

7. Incomplete conversion tracking

8. Negatives and site exclusion

9. Keyword mismanagement

10. Not knowing when to quit

Poor Campaign Budget Management

• Balancing the spend mix

• Hitting budget limits early in day

• Artificially constricting your budget

Zero Conversion Keywords

• 80-95% conversions come from 5% of keywords

• 10% of spend on zero converting KWs

• Run Placement Keyword Report & download to excel

• Sort by conversions

• Look for KWs with zero conversions

• Focus on 30-100 clicks or few clicks in last two months

• Upload to Adwords Editor and pause

Not Testing Ads and Ad copy

• Not watching competitions ads

• Working in vacuum

– Use AdgooRoo or SpyFu

Not Testing Ad Copy

• Standing out from the pack

Not Testing Ads and Ad copy

Not Testing Ads and Ad copy

Not Testing Ads and Ad copy

Not Testing Ads and Ad copy

• How to test ads

– Element at a time to find out what’s improving,

what’s a factor

– Rotate ads evenly

Not Testing Ads and Ad copy

• How to test ads

Overuse of KW insert

Not Testing Ads and Ad copy

• How to test ads

Overuse of KW insert

Not Attacking the Bounce Rate

• Separate PPC from Organic

• Individual landing pages

• Campaign

• Keyword

• Use the data to take action

Exploit the Sales Funnel

86% drop off !!!

80% drop off !!!

Not Using Landing Pages

• Sending all traffic to one page (home page)

• Not making LP a high enough priority

• Viewing LP optimization as a “one off event”

• Not Testing continuously

• Great example:– http://www.businessplanpro.com/ppc/business_plans.

cfm

Incomplete Conversion Tracking

• Not tracking all the way to sale (Salesforce)

• Treating all conversions as equal, not giving value to conversion

Negatives, Site Exclusion

• Run a search query report to develop negatives

• Google offers a lot of tools to help

• New interface offers transparency

New Google Adwords UISearch Query Report

New Google Adwords UINetwork Tab

Placement Performance Report

Keywords

• Not using branded

• Ego Bidding

• Match types

• Letting the long tail get the best of you

– KWs run too long (long tail)

• Not using competitors KWs

– New Google trademark policy

Google’s New Trademark Policy

• Permits use of the trademark in ad text:

– Ads which use the term in a descriptive or generic way, and not in reference to the trademark owner or the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term.

– Ads which use the trademark in a nominative manner to refer to the trademark or its owner, specifically:

• Resale of the trademarked goods or services• Sale of components, replacement parts or compatible

products corresponding to a trademark:• Informational sites

Before Quitting, Ask:

• Standalone product or is there upsell/back end

– OK to breakeven on PPC if profitable on back end

• Are any KWs converting profitably?

• Optimize LP for higher conversion rate?

• Does lower position yield more profitable

conversion?

Not Knowing When to Quit

Q & A

jonl@pointit.com

frankc@pointit.com