Judging PPC Performance: Focus on Conversions

Last week, when I discussed PPC bidding strategies, I promised to start a discussion about how and when to make decisions about your PPC campaign's keyword and ad performance.

But first, it's worthwhile to emphasize an important point: almost every action you take to improve your PPC ad campaign should be based on conversion data.

Many PPC newbies neglect to set up conversions tracking, and base their assumptions about campaign performance on the number of impressions and clicks, on ad position, and on CTR.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Those metrics are useful to gauge a campaign's ability to drive traffic to your site -- and especially the ability for a particular ad to attract clicks. But they tell nothing about your campaign's ability to drive sales or leads.

Tracking and reporting on conversion data, and fine-tuning a PPC campaign's performance based on that, sets PPC advertising apart from other advertising channels that have no such built-in abilities.

Here's how you should view the most important metrics regarding your campaigns:

The number of impressions indicates how often your ad is displayed, and is a measure of the number and effectiveness of the keywords in your campaign.

The number of clicks and the CTR indicates how well your ad is working to convince those viewing the ad that your site/offer corresponds well to the intent of their search.

The number of conversions and the conversion rate indicates how well your keywords, ads and landing pages are working together to convince PPC-driven site visitors to take the action that is the objective of your site -- usually sales or leads.

Since conversion data is necessary for you to judge how well your PPC campaign is working -- to decide whether you've chosen the right keywords, written compelling ad copy, adjusted your bids to obtain maximum ROI, and designed your landing pages correctly -- it's essential that you set up your site with conversion tracking.

Doing so is a one-time operation that's simple, fast and free -- you simply paste a chunk of JavaScript code into a "Thank You" page on your site. That's the page that site visitors see just after taking the desired action -- immediately after finishing a purchase, or submitting a lead form.

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft supply clear instructions for accomplishing this, so I won't describe the process here. Google's especially-clear instructions can be downloaded in PDF form here.

Side note: if your in-house or outsourced web design folks tell you that setting up conversion tracking is hard/expensive/time-consuming: get a second opinion. Fast.

Second side note: be sure to test conversion tracking after setting it up -- and test it periodically to make sure it's still working. Though the setup is straightforward, tiny mistakes, like leaving off a JavaScript line or punctuation mark, can render tracking inoperable. And pay close attention to whether your Thank You page is a secure one (with a URL prefixed by https://) -- if so, a different version of the conversion code must be used.

Third side note: many PPC advertisers need to know and report data that is difficult or impossible to obtain via the conversion tracking described above. For example, for many eCommerce advertisers, knowing the number of conversions (sales transactions) is insufficient; they need to know the exact revenue from each conversion in order to determine their PPC campaign's effectiveness (profitability).

Fortunately doing so is straightforward -- measuring exact revenue is the forte of most web site analytics packages. One fine example is free: Google Analytics. For AdWords advertisers, Google Analytics is automatically "tied" to their PPC campaigns, and can be easily set up to track revenue per transaction -- start here to see how. Google Analytics (and other web site analytics packages) also show you a wealth of information that will help you optimize your PPC campaigns -- like data regarding how many shoppers are leaving your site before completing a shopping transaction.

Next Monday, I'll resume the description of how and when you should adjust keyword and ad group bid prices. As usual, let me know your comments and questions via the feedback form below.

Source: Click Here

Google Launches “Google Moderator”

I don’t know if I am slightly abnormal or just more politically interested than most, but I generally enjoy watching the presidential debates. I like seeing the candidates put on the hot-seat, even though I know fully-well that they’ve been prepped and have seared scripted responses into their memories. Sometimes they are caught off guard and that’s exciting, but haven’t you ever wondered just how much more cool it would be if the public - i.e. the people electing the candidates - got to toss in a few questions of their own?

In rushes Google to the rescue! As Barack Obama and John McCain were engaged in a war of words Friday evening, Google launched a new tool - Google Moderator - which is aimed at making that possible - if the Commission of Presidential Debates ever decides to go down that path.

Google describes “Moderator” as:

“A free tool which enables communities to submit and vote on questions for debates, presentations and events. This way, the best and most representative questions rise to the top”

Since Moderator’s launch last week, 1,278 people have contributed 578 questions and cast 24,774 votes in the “2008 Presidential Debates” series, which includes questions on a range of categories. What I find most interesting about this is the way that the most popular questions rise to the top, and chances are if a question is getting a lot of votes, it’s something on the mind of many Americans.

Source: Click Here

Google Toolbar 5 now available in Firefox

A few months ago we launched several new features for Google Toolbar in Internet Explorer. Since then, we've received many emails asking us when we plan to support all our new features in Firefox.

Guess what: Starting today, you can download the latest version of Google Toolbar for Firefox, available in 29 languages. This new version is the first Toolbar launched out of our St. Petersburg, Russia office. It includes all the Toolbar features you know and love, such as Search, Bookmarks and Translate. When you install it, you can try out some of our newest features.

We don't like to play favorites among Toolbar's features, but it's hard not be wowed by Autofill. You can create several profiles with personal or business information including different addresses, email addresses and credit card details. So anytime you want to fill an online form, just click on Autofill and the right information will appear in the form automatically. All your information is safely stored only in your own computer, with your credit card numbers encrypted and protected by a password.

We also love Google Gadgets in Toolbar. Gadgets bring information from your favorite websites closer to you. For example, you can add the YouTube gadget to your Toolbar. When you want to have a quick break from work, click on the YouTube icon and search or view videos in a box that pops down from the Toolbar, without leaving the web page you are on. Close that box when you're done with it (or when your manager starts walking towards your cube). You can find the YouTube gadget and thousands of others in our gallery.


We look forward to get your feedback, or to hear your stories about the exciting ways you are using Toolbar's features. We hope that you enjoy the new Google Toolbar as much as our team enjoyed building it!

If you're interested in learning more about Google Toolbar, visit us at http://tools.google.com/firefox/toolbar/FT5 or check out our video:

Source: Click Here

Search engine optimization: Get popular in the web world

Search engine optimization is one of the most fruitful mechanisms used to enhance the number of visitors to any particular website. Every Internet savvy nowadays, likes to browse through the leading search engines for collecting any sort of information and data and thus, procuring a good rank on these search engines has become an important task for every avid individual, who wishes to earn business through online promotion. In fact, the entire concept of seo has been developed with the purpose of allowing the website to be optimized on a greater extent, so that all the functioning search engines can easily spot it, without any loss of time. Hence, if you also wish to make your online presence more prominent, then getting best search engine optimization techniques is must for you as a good search engine rating is directly proportional to success growth of your company. If defined in common words, it is an idea to secure the top position for your website on all the major search engines.

Nowadays, every intelligent business developer is making decent efforts to gain qualitative information regarding the entire process of search engine optimization and its proper mechanism, so that he can aim for a perfect online presentation of his company, services and products. However, it may not be as easy as it sounds, because basically seo is a collective task of various units, where each and every part of the job demands sincere consideration and sincere efforts. Ensure that every single page of your website is well designed, in accordance with the understanding level and requirements of your targeted visitors. With good seo services, any person can have the advantage of upgrading his or her website quite efficiently, by introducing required amendments such as extra significant piece of information with highlighted keywords. In the recent years, many new technologies and modules have further developed this technique.

The business organizations and firms depending on online promotional services are hugely benefited by the correct use of seo. Even the other sort of companies that are actively using their websites as advertising tools gain a lot of profit from its appropriate utilization. Search engine optimization and its proper functioning bring a series of fruitful opportunities to improve the prospects of your company with a good sense of communication that is shared by countless number of people. Hence, if you also want to receive the outstanding website traffic bringing in the best ever responses, then consider this valuable option immediately.

Another important aspect of search engine optimization ids the proper designing of the website, which mainly includes a perfect composition of informative content and easy accessibility with an amicable outlook. The content displayed on your website must contain all the basic keywords, with proper headings and sub headings. Easy, communicative language should be used, so that your visitors can understand the content and can take your services. The person who is searching for any kind of information related to your business and work, should find it without any hassle. Hence, smartly plan your website and make decent efforts for gaining good response.

Source: Click Here

Website optimization New York: Ensure good response

Nowadays, Internet is considered as the most avid promotion tool for reaching to the huge client base. Every business owner is trying to make wise utilization of World Wide Web, to connect to their targeted clients. Sincere efforts have been made to publicize the services and products of the companies through efficient website optimization service providers. Though every website available on the network is best in its own way but still, only a few get successful in receiving positive response from the viewers. The website optimization New York is one of the finest mediums through which, one can advertise his products, services and brand in an effective manner. Moreover, if a company wishes to maintain a good rapport with its clients, then also the medium of Internet duly serves the purpose. One is assured of securing good ranking with web optimization as the services offered here is truly world class.

The market is flourishing with the presence of numerous website optimization service providers and selecting the best out of all is definitely, the owner's job and hence, it is essential for you to understand the basic phenomenon of this entire procedure. The website optimization services mainly work towards your online popularity, so that your website gets successful in attracting a large number of visitors. This in turn, results in increased traffic on your site and therefore raises the profit percentage of the company. The website optimization New York helps an individual in achieving his aim of reaching the top in the market. With the present scenario of the market, one requires these services to a great extent for the popularity of his site. Many companies have immensely benefited with the valuable assistance of website optimization New York service providers.

The professional experts of website optimization New York are always keen to help their clients with their proven expertise. They have earned valuable years of experience in this field and clearly understand the requirements of the market scenario. They acknowledge the fact that establish and survive in the present market; one should have a good command over the advertising aspect of their trade and thus, come up with fruitful techniques to make your website acquire the top most position on the leading search engines. However, one thing that you must focus on, while taking such services is the total cost expenditure. For this purpose, you should carry out good market research, so that you can have a clear picture about the competitive rates available in the market with different vendors offering the similar set of services.

The most beneficial aspect of taking services from the New York based website optimization company is the surety of getting quality work performance and assistance at affordable charges. In fact, many vendors are also offering special economic schemes and programs for budding and fresh entrepreneurs these days. Hence, all those who wish to have better promotional services but lack sufficient monetary resources can gain alto from these programs. Therefore, nobody is now expected to loiter around much in the market in search of a competent set of online promotion services, as you now know the absolute destination of website optimization New York is right there to help you.

Source: Click Here

Get better results with New York search engine optimization

For most of the businesses, online promotion has emerged as an important and integral technique that has the capability of attracting the biggest sector of clients. Nowadays, every individual prefers to browse through the World Wide Web, if he has to search for some information. Nobody has time to flip through the pages of books, or other available resources for acquiring information about any particular topic. Hence, even if you have an online website that promotes your products, services or concepts, then it is important to make your target audience aware of its existence. However, this task is not as easy as it seems. Only expert professionals who have the required expertise in the online medium can do wonders for your website. Hence, in this situation, you can gain the maximum benefit by hiring the very competent New York search engine optimization firms.

Let us now focus on some of the elementary objectives of proper New York search engine optimization. The first and foremost aspect of this entire procedure is the creation of informative content that incorporates all popular and most sought after keywords, so that whenever an individual tries to search for some information through a keyword, your website should immediately respond. Secondly, your website should also be well categorized with good, valid Meta tags. Moreover, ensure that the content you are providing on your site is written in easy communicative language, so that all visitors can easily understand it. Also try to make your website quite creative in nature, so a visitor gets attracted towards it and will give time to find new aspects in it. In addition to this, the presentation of your website should be interesting and captivating. And finally if you are a resident of New York, then all these services will be given to you by avid New York search engine optimization firms.

However, it is almost impossible to manage and execute all these jobs, without the expert hand of professional help and this is the reason why, nowadays, many intelligent companies are opting for the valuable assistance of New York search engine optimization firms. The firms are well recruited with efficient professionals and good content writers, who have earned qualitative years of experience in this field. In addition to this, these firms also offer the facility of upgradation services to their clients, even after the website is posted on search engines on a contractual basis.

Hence, if you too, have chosen the medium of internet for promoting your products, services and brands then simply make efforts to gain the maximum advantage of New York search engine optimization firm. Also, keep in mind the fact that the requirements and techniques of online promotion are consistently developing and thus, it is important for you to introduce essential amendments in your website accordingly. Take the help of experienced professionals, who are well informed about the several changes and advancements and get your website redesigned in an appropriate manner. The day to day upgrading will never let your site become out dated. Promotional tactics are the key to generating awareness about any business, even for online websites. So, move ahead and let the entire world know about your online business and rake in the profits.

Source: Click Here

Elevate the position of your business with search engine marketing

Since every business that deals in online products or services, needs to make its noticeable presence in the online world. Only having online presence is not enough, as people, who search for online services and products use a specific search regimen that includes various search engines and until and unless a business is capable of getting a place on these search engines, all efforts are futile. Marketing of an online business depends on its online presence and availability, hence, people, who want to make a reputed place in online business world, should make their marketing strategies by keeping online terms and tactics in mind. Basically, marketing tactic that is used for promoting online businesses is known as search engine marketing; in fact, this marketing tactic is well versed with online requirements and ways that are required to fulfill them. Since people, who use online search tools to gather information about any service or product, prefer to search through search engines rather than placing the exact URL on the address bar, every online business should be readily available to grab their attention. With involvement of internet in every field of life, consumers have become more conscious about online proceedings, so that best services and products can be availed.

Presentation of your business on the online arena very much depends upon its search engine rank and people usually, prefer to approach service providers that are ranked high on major search engines. Search engine marking paves your way to noticeable online presence and provides your business with various tools to get a good rank on search engines. Firms and companies that provide online businesses with search engine marketing services can be used to get utmost benefits out of your online marketing strategies. In fact, with their help your business can achieve the targeted profit level and can reach out more and more online consumers.

It is quite true that traditional marketing and online marketing are very different form each other hence, efforts and technologies that are used to perform online marketing cannot be mingled with traditional marketing. A different kind of strategy regimen is needed to perform search engine marketing, so that success can be attained. There are online businesses owners that are disappointed because of their failure in online arena, as they believe that their websites contain all features that can attract consumers. However, in reality just having a website is not enough; it is just like having a business without any identity and recognition, as no consumer will know what you have in your stock to meet his or her requirements.

Search engine marketing is all about placing your business idea in various online platforms to attract your target consumers. Therefore, if you possess an online business that has not approached by any of your consumers, then it is advised to have a look at it availability on the online arena. Moreover, some strict and planned steps are also needed to follow, so that search engine may list your business at good place whenever it is searched by any online consumer.

Source: Click Here