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Focus On Exact Match

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:55:17 GMT

This week, Gabe Ingalls gives us some insight into using Exact Match keyword functionality in your PPC campaigns.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

While an uncovered light bulb can illuminate an entire room, a laser can highlight and draw attention to a single item in that room. Exact match can do the same for the keywords within your adCenter account. Building on the account optimisation techniques that Simone focused on in her negative keywords post, this week I will help you understand the benefits of using exact match in your account and outline some of the best practices for doing so.

Benefits of Exact Match

To make your adCenter account highly effective it is necessary to target your most relevant keyword and ad combinations to the most relevant user queries. By using exact match you can do exactly that. Consequently, using exact match will provide your account with:

1) a more precise correlation between the user query and delivered results
2) an increased propensity for the most relevant ad copy to be displayed
3) reporting that allows you to see more clearly where your clicks and conversions are coming from

All three of the above should help to increase the CTR and long-term ROI of your account.

The Right Answer to the Right Question

If you think of search as a question, then the results you obtain can be seen as the answer to your question or query. It is therefore important to provide users with the most relevant results for their questions to increase the likelihood that they will click on your ad. While broad match can provide you with more traffic for individual keywords, it does not provide the user with a 1-to-1 ratio between the search query and the displayed results as illustrated below. In this diagram, the original keyword is at the apex of the triangle. With each step down the triangle or away from original keyword, the relevancy between the original keyword and the derivative keyword is reduced. This occurs even though each of the derivatives contain the original term. The terms at the bottom of the diagram receive more impressions, however they would also receive a lower CTR when displayed against a specific keyword.

Like a flashlight shining on a wall, the closer the wall is to the source the more precise and bright the beam is; when the light is moved further from the wall it illuminates more of the target area, however the beam is not as precise or bright (relevancy) as a laser would be when pointed at the same wall. With exact match you can provide the user with brighter, pinpointed results specifically relevant to their query and boost your CTR.

Seeing is Believing

Exact match also increases the probability that relevant ad copy associated with the keywords will be displayed when used in combination with targeted campaign strategies (see our adCenter account structure post) or Dynamic Text Insertion. Writing specific ad copy that is associated with either a granular account structure or individual keywords (Dynamic Text Insertion) ensures greater relevancy between the searched query and one of your ads; closer relevancy maximises the chances that your most relevant ad will appear. It is this relevancy connection between the user query and the displayed ads that helps to drive a successful ad campaign. For example, for the query below which is the most targeted ad copy?

The middle ad is the most relevant to the search query because it utilises the most meaningful elements of the keyword and should provide the highest CTR/ROI for that particular query.

Moreover, exact match also allows you to see the precise words that users are clicking on. Because adCenter keyword performance reports can be split by match type, an exact match strategy will allow you to see which keywords are getting traffic and which are getting clicks. This knowledge can then be applied to your overall understanding of your account as well as provide greater understanding of what the best possible keyword and bid strategy looks like.

Bid Strategy Best Practices

An analysis of adCenter data for the top 30 car insurance keywords across all advertisers and all positions shows that exact match provides keywords with a higher CTR than broad match.

In addition to this, an analysis of the top thousand UK customers shows on average that exact match (9.82% CTR) has twice the CTR of broad match (4.52% CTR). Consequently it is important for you to incorporate exact match in your bidding strategy.

Focusing on Your Target

While exact match should play part of your bid strategy, many opportunities could be lost if this was the only practice that you exercised in your account. It is therefore recommended that exact match be used in combination with broad match. This will allow your account to benefit from both the precise relevancy that exact match brings as well as the scope that broad produces as well as help to maintain a long-term ROI for the account.

To be more precise, when using both broad and exact match it is necessary to bid higher on exact match than broad. This should help to prevent exact matched keywords from being ‘eclipsed’ by broad match. For example, if a keyword has the same bid for both exact and broad and broad has a stronger keyword history because it receives more impressions, the exact match bid may be ‘eclipsed’ by the broad match bid and not be displayed. The same would be true if the exact bid was smaller than the broad bid. By bidding higher on exact you can help to ensure that the highest level of relevancy between the query and bidded keyword will be displayed in your ad copy.

Incorporating a higher exact match bid into your overall bid strategy should help you to increase your CTR. Over time this will help your ads to be displayed at a higher position for a lower CPC! However as mentioned in previous blogs, negative keywords, account structure and ad copy are also essential parts to an inclusive adCenter search campaign.

Next week, Kate returns to answer the top adCenter frequently asked questions of the moment!

Negative Keywords - It's All Positive

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:15:44 GMT

Today, Simone tells us how to banish unwanted impressions forever!

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

Adding negative keywords to your search campaign is one of the easiest optimisations you can do and it’s free!

Negative keywords help to prevent your ad from showing up in search queries unrelated to your website when you bid on broad or phrase match. Negative keywords can increase your click through rate (CTR), improve your average position and decrease the cost per click (CPC).

So negative keywords can bring about a very positive change to your campaign!

Chocolate Labradors & Football Boots.

How do you know negative keywords are needed? High impressions and relatively low clicks may indicate your keyword & ad is attracting unintended attention.
The keyword ‘chocolate’ for example is a very relevant one for a chocolate manufacturer but the ad would serve about 100 times a month to people looking for ‘chocolate Labradors.’

Your brand name may also be in need of negative keywords. The chemist Boots would attract traffic from thousands of users looking for footwear. Apple would not only attract traffic from users searching for IPods but also from Nigellas looking for apple crumble recipes if relevant negative keywords are missing from the campaign.

How to find negative keywords?

Pull a keyword performance report and find the high impression/ low click culprits and type these into the Keyword Research tool.

When you find the negative keywords, remember a few things:

Only add the part of the keyword you don’t want your ad to serve on (so for ‘chocolate’ the negative keyword would be ‘labrador’ and not ‘chocolate labrador’).
Separate the negative keywords with commas.
Individual negative keywords can have up to 100 characters. The maximum amount of characters for all negative keywords is 1022 including commas.

Campaign or Keyword level?

Negative keywords can be added on the campaign and keyword level. On keyword level negative keywords can be much more effective as it is almost always a few individual keywords that have multiple meanings. Application at the keyword level allows you to tailor negatives to individual keywords, minimising the chances of making mistakes and blocking relevant traffic.

Negative keywords work on the campaign level in a more generic way. If you only sell new cars for example, you could add ‘second hand’ on the campaign level as a negative keyword to filter out inappropriate prospects.

Additional negative keywords on the keyword level override any added on campaign level.

How to add negative keywords to the campaign?

There are a few ways in which you can add negative keywords:

In bulk for one or more campaigns.
To keywords in an existing campaign.
To keywords in a new campaign.

Next week Gabe will be giving us some tips about exact match & bid price strategy.

Brand Vs Generic Keywords

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:06:08 GMT

Today, we have Craig Brown from our Creative Services Team who'll try and iron out that age-old dilemma of which kind of keywords to choose...

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

The title of this posting is a bit of a misnomer...‘Brand vs Generic’ suggests a battle between two opposing forces but in reality an effective search campaign on adCenter needs the right mix of both, as they fulfil very specific but equally important functions and are co-dependent. Without the generics, a user may never find your brand. Without brand keywords, a user may be tempted away by a competitor at the crucial moment.

Is this all just theory or is there proof that searchers behave this way? Well, Microsoft commissioned a study with Comscore to study this in late 2007. The study focused on search traffic to over 20 of the most popular travel sites from June to August 2007. All keyword searches were categorised into brand or non-brand generic and tracked as to whether they led to a referral (defined as a hit on a travel site) or a secure session (defined as a user navigating to a secure purchase section of the site). The topline results make for some interesting reading:

Arrow A - Lower number of generic searches leading to higher numbers of referrals.
Arrow B - Fewer branded referrals leading to more secure sessions.

Out of all the tracked searches during this period, almost 60% were brand searches. Despite a lower number of generic searches, generic keywords accounted for 51% of all referrals. However, when it comes to secure sessions, 71% came from brand searches. This backs up the idea that generic keywords are essential to driving users to your site but may not convert to a sale immediately. The driver of conversions is brand keywords, but without the refinement and filtering provided by generics, many brands may not be discovered by users.

Generic Strategy

For some search campaign planners, conventional wisdom is that if a keyword doesn’t convert directly to a sale it is not worth having, and it does not make financial sense to be competitive on high volume generic keywords as the bid depth is too great. While this may actually be the case for some search engines and specific advertisers (an example being a small hotel in Torquay bidding on the keyword ‘hotels’), it should be pointed out that there is still lots of good quality traffic available on Live Search through generic keywords.

The Comscore study found that 15% of generic searches led to a referral on Live Search compared to 11% for Google and 8% for Yahoo!, showing that there are a higher proportion of referrals available from generic searches on Live Search compared to some other search engines. A relevant list of generics alongside great ad copy can get you noticed...

Brand Strategy

In terms of brand keywords, another often quoted idea is “Why should I bid on my brand keywords when I am appearing number 1 or 2 in the organic search results?” As the driver of conversions, it is vital that you are represented at the brand level so that you don’t lose potential customers at the final hurdle to a competitor. In addition, one of the standard measures of a brand across all advertising mediums is the level of trust that brand has. Appearing position 1 in both natural and PPC listings reinforces your brand in terms of visibility to the user, while also enhancing trust in the brand.

A survey on search behaviour by Neilsen’s Net Ratings in August/September 2007 backs this up. Over one third of respondents reported that they view a website more favourably if it appears in the sponsored links section. Google users were half as likely to view sponsored listings so favourably. In term of overall trust, Live Search scored highest among search engines overall so it is important that you take advantage (in a nice way of course) of this trusting audience by bidding on your own brand keywords.

Brand and generic keywords are vital ingredients in any PPC campaigns. Both have different functions and to a great extent different metrics. With this is mind, keep them in separate ad groups or even separate campaigns so that account reporting and analysis can be as meaningful as possible.

My final recommendation is that if you are appearing below position 3 for your own brand there are likely big opportunities to reassess your strategy - maybe bids are too low or you are not using an exact match bidding strategy. Improvements on brand performance will likely lead to improvements in sales.

Thanks for listening!

Craig – UK Search Media Analyst (Financial Services)

Get Keyword Fit: Keyword Expansion Tips to Get the Best Out of Your adCenter Keyword List

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:14:52 GMT

Today, Kate Newton gives us some insight into how to make our keywords work that little bit harder!

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

How are your keywords performing? Is your account bloated and sluggish from carrying excess keywords that just never get served? Do you want your adCenter account to be a lean, mean keyword machine that generates great ROI? Then look no further!

Quality over Quantity

Smart & considered keyword expansion makes for efficient long-term account maintenance and reporting. With a few handy tips from your very own adCenter personal *keyword* trainer, you’ll soon have your keyword lists honed to perfection which, in turn, will leave you time to kick sand in the face of the competition. Awesome!

1. “Where can I find keywords that will deliver good level of impressions on Live Search?”

First port of call should always be the adCenter Keyword Research tool which can be found on the Research tab within adCenter. All keyword recommendations are generated from the searches that people have conducted on Live Search & MSN over the previous month.

It is possible to import keyword lists that you may already have active within other PPC programs, but traffic levels on these keywords are not guaranteed and may vary widely across the different search engines. This is because all search engines have very different audiences; for the best possible results on Live Search always refer to the adCenter Keyword Tool.

2. Misspellings & Plurals

It is amazing how many searches are generated by people misspelling or mistyping common generics such as ‘lingerie’. Just because these keywords are not spelt correctly does not make them any less valid or relevant.

adCenter adLabs has a clever little feature called the Keyword Mutation Detection tool which can identify common misspellings of everyday keywords.

3. Contextual & Keyword Variation

Another great product to feature in AdCenter Labs is the Keyword Group Detection tool. For example, you might type the keyword ‘perfume’ while looking for similar or related keywords. The tool will give you inspiration for possible further expansion by returning: ‘cologne’, ‘fragrances’, ‘scents’ & ‘aftershave’.

4. Keyword Concatenation

Concatenation is a very useful method of creating instant keywords if you run a Travel, Property or Jobs website. You can combine common actions and verbs such as ‘fly’ and ‘hotel’ with a list of destinations taken directly from your website to form quick and highly relevant keyword lists.

In the example below we’ve concatenated ‘hotel’ and destinations using the CONCATENATE function in Microsoft Excel.

However, caution should be followed when using concatenation because over use can be just as ‘fattening’ to your keyword list as you can create keywords that just don’t receive any searches.

Happy keyword expanding! Please return next week when Craig Brown will be discussing the hot topic of the moment: Brand Vs Generics.

Thanks for reading!

Kate

How Do You Solve A Problem Like adCenter Account Structure?

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:17:54 GMT

Today, our office Julie Andrews wannabe, Libby Thomas, gives some prudent advice on PPC account structure and takes you right back to the start of your paid search journey.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

As Maria once said in the Sound of Music, ‘let’s start at the very beginning, what a very good place to start’.

On adCenter, the very beginning involves deciding on the structure of your account.

To ensure that it’s a rip-roaring success, it’s important to have a highly-organised structure where your campaigns and ad groups are as focused as possible, your keywords are tightly grouped and the ads are relevant to the keyword.

Here’s an example of an ideal account structure:

What are the benefits of having such a granular account structure?

Firstly, it allows you to target your ad to the keyword. Research has proven that users are much more likely to click on an ad that replicates their search query. By putting closely-related keywords together in one ad group, you can easily write an ad that includes at least part of every keyword, which should result in more clicks and more conversions.

The second reason is for reporting and maintenance. If dissimilar keywords are all lumped together in one ad group, it can be difficult to judge how different areas of your business are performing. By separating them out into distinct ad groups, you can tell, for example, that the ‘Sound of Music’ ad group is suffering from a low CTR and may need a little bit of ad rework.

The final reason for a highly-organised account structure is for demographic targeting. If you want to ensure that your ad is being shown to the people most likely to click on it, we strongly advise using adCenter’s fabulous demographic targeting tool. This can be applied per ad group so by splitting out your keywords effectively you can ensure that the targeting you select is specific to the keywords. For example, the ‘Sound of Music tickets’ ad group could be targeted to young females, whereas the ‘Football tickets’ ad group may be targeted to young males. Having these keywords split out into their own ad groups makes this possible.

And that’s it. Do-re-me! Please pop back soon for Kate’s post on Keyword Expansion.

Thanks a lot for reading, Libby

Some PPC Tips For All Seasons

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:29:01 GMT

Today, Simone from our Creative Services Team continues where they left off in 2007, with some tips on seasonal considerations for your PPC campaigns.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Manager

Here we are in January 2008 with the fresh New Year’s resolution to help you plan your search campaign for the year ahead.

Do Search Peaks Always Equal Event Dates?

Major seasonal events which have an impact on your business may be easy to pinpoint however, when these events start to impact the number of search queries may not always be transparent.

In some cases such as, the January Sales, the search peak is simultaneous to the event. In the same month, however, we see a huge peak in travel related searches generated by people researching and booking(!) their summer holidays as in January people start using their replenished holiday balances.

When to Prepare for Increased Customer Demand?

As with so many things in business, preparation & planning is the key to success. The tables below show which events impact Retail, Finance and Travel accounts and, more importantly, when the search peak related to this event takes place – in brackets we have mentioned the true date of this event, should it be in a different month.
At the adCenter offices we like to prepare an account for a major event 4 to 6 weeks before the search peak (so not 4-6 weeks before the event as we see an increase of searches even before the peak). This ensures the account benefits as much as possible from the increased demand.

USA

Save with Smart Seasonal CPC Management

Another interesting trend is that CPCs peak almost a month after a search peak. Preparing CPCs on time will increase CTRs which enables ads to show at a higher position throughout the peak. High CPCs after the peak can be avoided this way.

Next week Libby will be giving us some PPC account structure advice.

Thanks, Simone

UK Base Rate Changes – Effective as of January 10th 2008

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:24:33 GMT

Today Gabe Ingalls from our Vertical Insights Team dishes out some advice for the finance sector which is facing rate changes in the coming weeks.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

Now that the holiday season is approaching an end, it is time to start thinking about your yearly finances and with that, there has been some recent news that can affect you as well as your adCenter account.

On December 6th 2007 the Monetary Policy Committee announced that as of January 10 2008 the Bank of England’s base interest rate paid on commercial bank reserves would be reduced by 0.25% to 5.5%. This means that the amount of interest that the Bank of England charges private banks has been reduced. This, in turn, may lower the amount of interest paid by consumers for loans taken after the reduction has occured. Check out the Bank of England's press release for more info.

However, this does not mean that all banks will reduce the amount of interest for loans, but it does give the bank an opportunity to reduce loan and/or mortgage APRs as well as savings AERs.

Even so, the question that you might now be asking yourself is: ‘”How does this affect my adCenter account and what can I do to prepare for this change?”’

This change may affect your account in two ways:

Consequently, to prepare your account for this change, as well as the seasonal increase in the number of queries for loan-related products that is expected in January and February, a number of steps can be taken. The below actions will ensure that you are both maximising this opportunity as well as safeguarding your account against wasted impressions and clicks.

Make sure that your account is active and has budget so that you are not missing out on this opportunity.
Double check the APR rates that are offered by the financial institution so that you are providing the most correct and relevant information in your ad copy. Moreover, it is your legal responsibility to reflect these changes in your ad copy.
Other items such as functional calls-to-action, ‘quote’ or ‘apply’ for example, as well as limiting statements like ‘homeowners only’, can be used to target your traffic and reduce wasted clicks.
Use negative keywords to help qualify your traffic. For example, if you only offer secured loans, including words like ‘unsecured’ and ‘tenant’ in the negative keywords can prevent ads from showing against queries that include these terms. This will help to reduce the number of wasted impressions and help maintain your CTR.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your account is up and running as well as safeguarded to take full advantage of the expected seasonal spike and the change in interest rates.

If you missed it last time, check out my post on Finance Ad Copy for some tips and best practices.

Many Thanks

Gabe

Ad Copy Tips For Gadgets & Technology Products

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:15:20 GMT

Today - Chris Francis from our Creative Services Team talks about ad copy for gadgets and all things technical.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

As the Festive season approaches at break-neck speed, now is a great time to make the most of the increased search queries that are carried out for all kinds of technology products and services. This December many letters to Santa will include hints to a new PC or Xbox360. Here are some tips and best practices to help create highly effective ad copy for gadgets and technology products and services (and make you stand out to Father Christmas).

Staying Current

It pays to be up to date with the latest products and model numbers to capitalise on the most popular searches. As with all search campaigns, it is important to understand the specific keywords that are prominent at any given time, which will in turn make it easier to write relevant and click-inducing ads! Whilst general computer-related keywords and ads should be ever present, it pays to tailor your campaigns based upon the trends highlighted in the diagram below.

In the build up to the holidays PC’s, laptops, consoles and games all feature heavily – so make sure to have an up to date list of models and model numbers and incorporate these into the ad copy wherever possible. January and February are bumper months for technology! Make sure to have ISP keywords and ad copy in place for those returning to university. Throughout spring and summer generic terms dominate, especially for peripherals that may not have been purchased at Christmas time. Finally, instant messenger services and VoIP see an increase during the summer months.

Price Matters

Buying a computer, associated peripheral hardware, or committing to an ISP contract can be a hefty investment. Therefore it pays to mention any price points that may differentiate your offering from the rest of the crowd. This is especially important if you are targeting your customers based solely on price, or the notion of perceived value for money. For price-competitive or price-sensitive products use phrases such as ‘save now’, ‘great deals on’ and ‘excellent savings with’ which will help to emphasise the potential cost savings

Understand Your Customer

To make your ads resonate, it is important that the message conveyed relates to the users’ intentions. For example, if a search is being carried out on the keyword phrase ‘cheap ISP’ then the ad should deliver this message. Alternatively, if the user has searched for ‘quality PC’ the message should be of a different tone altogether, perhaps highlighting the superiority of features in order to prompt the user to click.

So, that’s it for this year!

Thanks for reading and please make sure to come back in the New Year when we will have a whole new set of exciting blog entries!

Thanks - Chris

Playing Cupid? - How to Write Delicious Dating Ad Copy

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:38:30 GMT

This week our Lifestyle guru, Ewan Swain, helps us fall in love with some tantalizing tips on dating ads.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

With the New Year and Valentine’s Day fast approaching, many a lovebird will be surfing the net looking for a partner, or just someone to share a glass of wine with over the coming winter months. As a result the world of online dating can get very competitive with many an online suitor jostling to catch a prospective sweetheart’s eye .

As the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea. So how can you make your fish leap a bit higher than the others?

Target your ads effectively. If someone is searching for “Scottish Personals” then ensure that your ad copy reflects this. Try to use dynamic text to insert the locations.

People want to know that the site is the real deal! Not everybody wants to end up on one of the seedier sites on the net. Let them know you have genuine people looking for love.

Use the right language for your site. If your site is all about texting, flirting, chatting and fun, then you can be slightly more jovial in tone. On the other hand if your site is about finding someone a long term partner then words like “hook up” and “flirt” should definitely be avoided. Instead use language like “partner”, “romance” and “perfect match”.

Don’t forget to make your ads seasonal! Think about what time of the year is coming up. Are people looking for a “Festive Friend”, a “New Year’s Romance” or are they longing for “Summer Lovin’”?

Finally it goes without saying that you must not forget Valentine’s Day (I will never make that mistake again!)

Next week we’ll be wiring you up to some top ad writing tips for all you technology wizards, so please pop back then.

Thanks

Ewan

Retail (Ad Copy) Therapy: Our Top 5 Insider Hints for Writing Amazing Retail Copy

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:03:05 GMT

For the last few months we’ve been sharing tips and tricks on ad copy best practice. The last two posts took a closer look at the specific business areas of Travel and Finance.

This week Simone & Kate show you how to creatively fine tune Retail ads.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

The diagram below shows how to write amazingly effective Retail ad copy:

Simone & Kate’s Top 5 Insider Hints for Writing Amazing Retail Copy

1. The number one influential element is to mention the product name in the ad title or ad copy. Dynamic Text Insertion can be a great way to ensure ads looks targeted & relevant.

2. Like on the high street pricing, promotions & special offers attract. People just love a good deal! Ads including an offer for a limited amount of time or next day/free delivery generally perform better than using, for example, pricing on its own.

3. Is your business a well-known, well-loved household name or brand? Use it! It can say more than you can express in a few lines and you may gain instant trust from the consumer.

4. Use call to actions (CTAs) to invite consumers to your site and to let them know what they’ll find on your there. Successful CTAs for retail campaigns in the UK are:
‘buy’, ’compare’, ‘save’, ‘order’ and ‘find’. For the US ‘save time and money’, ‘buy’ ‘save’, ‘order’ and ‘find’ work well.

5. Shoppers might complain about Christmas decorations in the high street in late September or Easter eggs in January. However online seasonality trends show that a big event such as Christmas impacts sales as early as September. The below table shows the main retail revenue drivers and when you should be thinking of getting your ad copy ready.

We hope you enjoyed your retail therapy. Please don’t forget to return soon when Ewan Swain will share his top tips on writing ad copy for Entertainment sites.

Thanks,

Simone & Kate

Make Money Online – Make the Most of Your Financial Services Account

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:26:10 GMT

This week Gabe Ingalls from our Creative Service Team offers some tips for all of you in the finacial services sector.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community team

As Libby pointed out last week, many of us are now thinking of our next holiday. Be it a winter or city break, a holiday in a warm climate or just a trip home for the winter holidays, you will have to take into account personal finances to get you there. Consequently, it is important to get your finance accounts running at optimum capacity (as well as your Retail accounts for the Holiday season) for the increased query volumes expected in the New Year.

Now some might not consider Financial Service one of the most exciting or creative areas for ad copy because of the associated legal restrictions required by various governing bodies, however, there is potential to create great informative ad copy that is both succinct and motivating while targeting the right consumers at the right time.

Financial Futures:

Like travel, Financial Services is a very seasonal sector with peaks in both the beginning (JAN-MAR) and end (SEPT-NOV) of the year. Now is the perfect time to start working on Current Account, Loan and Mortgage campaigns for January and February when users have returned from their winter holidays. For a longer-term look, the following seasonal periods are also important:

Short and to the Point:

While it is essential that legal restrictions, such as using ‘APR TYP’ or ‘APR Typical’ with stipulated mortgage or loan APRs, must be followed, other aspects of financial ad copy can be used to help generate further return on investment for clients. For example, ad copy can be used to prequalify users after an ad is served but before a click by including phrases like, ‘Sorry, homeowners only’ or ‘No tenants’. These additions will help limit the number of clicks by individuals who are unable to apply for the products offered or wasted clicks.

It is always a good practice to insert your keywords into the ad copy! By either having targeted ad groups or using Dynamic Text Insertion {param2}, grammatically inserting the keyword into the ad helps to increase the targeting and relevancy. Use unique selling points (USPs) and pricing to distinguish your advert from the rest. Moreover, calls-to-action help motivate users to click on your ads but they can also describe some of the functionalities that are offered on your site. By providing this knowledge upfront, you can further qualify your traffic (examples below).

Additional suggestions for spicing up your financial ad copy can be found in the above diagram.

Further Qualify Your Traffic:

Financial Services is one of the most competitive and expensive sectors to advertise in and therefore it is important that steps be taken to maximise the utility of costs. Negative keywords are an essential part of this strategy; by using negatives in relation to broad and phrase match bids, the number of wasted impressions can be reduced helping you to maintain a higher CTR. For example, if you only offer secured loans, used negative terms to help to remove your ad from appearing against queries that are outside of your objectives (non homeowner, unsecured, tenant). While this may reduce your total number of impressions, you will be receiving higher quality traffic that is more likely to convert.

Next week, just in the (St.) nick of time, our retail experts Kate and Simone will providing you with some ad copy best practices to maximise your retail accounts this holiday season.

Thanks,

Gabe

Flying High – How to Write Great Travel Ads for adCenter

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:46:58 GMT

Today, Libby continues our series of posts on how to write ad copy.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

The top tips that the Creative Services Team have offered so far can be applied to all types of ads, regardless of business sector. For the next couple of weeks, we’re going to take our blogs a little bit deeper, and focus on specific verticals.

We’ll start with the wonderful world of travel. Whether you’re advertising cottages in Cornwall, flights to France or car hire in California, make sure your travel ads are flying high by applying these recommendations:

Another handy travel hint is to capitalise on seasonality. When there’s a big event coming up in the calendar, tailor your copy to include it. For example, when you know people are about to start researching their Valentine’s breaks (research for specific events typically starts 90 days before they occur), add a romantic slant to your ad: ‘Treat your loved one to an unforgettable Valentine’s in Paris’.

You can also apply this to one-off events. So if your website sells flights to Beijing, start mentioning the 2008 Olympics in your copy.

The annual key dates to target include:

Next week, our finance experts, Gabe Ingalls and Phil Chapman will be on hand to dish out creative best practices for the financial sector.

Thanks,

Libby

On Your Marks, Get Set, Go! The Festive Season Is Nearly Upon Us But Is Your Ad Copy Optimised To Go the Distance?

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:24:09 GMT

As Mel's on vacation/holiday this week, today I get to introduce Kate from the Creative Services Team with her take on ad copy best practices for the holidays.

Cheers (as Mel would say),
Carolyn, adCenter Community Team

This month Carolyn from the adCenter Community Team has discussed how the US market is preparing for the festive season in Gearing up for the holidays, Holiday ad copy & targeting strategies, and most recently Top Ten Tips for the Holidays. This week the UK Creative Services Team has put together a quick guide to helping you get the best out of your PPC campaigns over the Christmas season.

2007 So Far...
The online UK retail landscape this year has seen phenomenal growth with IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) reporting 75% market growth since September 06, despite there being some challenges such as the meteoric rise of social networking, the Northern Rock banking crisis, the wettest summer on record for 30 years and wildcat Royal Mail postal strikes. However, setting all challenges aside, indicators look fantastic for a bumper online Christmas 2007, with analysts predicting sales to hit an all time record high.

Let the Santa Dash Begin
So when do people in the UK start to prepare for the festive season? According to Hitwise, a leading competitive search intelligence company, the first tentative searches for Christmas-related keywords started as early as August! However, the first major rush coincides with when people get paid at the end of October; this is because the majority of the UK workforce is now paid a monthly salary direct into their current accounts on the last working day or last working Friday of the month.

The second and final push for the season coincides with when people get paid at the end of November. Searches reach critical mass in the first two weeks of December, slowly tailing off as the postal deadlines for packages and parcels looms between the 17 – 20 December.

Stand & Deliver
Delivery is everything to Internet customers, and it's even more important to get it right at this time of year. Undelivered gifts can spoil Christmas day, which could impact brand equity and even lose customers.

Ensure delivery is a priority in your Christmas copy. Be transparent about delivery costs and delivery deadlines. If you use a third party courier service mention these because they can usually deliver beyond the Royal Mail postal deadlines. If your website offers free delivery on shopping baskets over a certain spend then use this unique selling point to entice buyers.

Make like Robin Red Breast: The Early Bird Catches the Worm
Christmas is a time for caring and sharing, and peace to all men on Earth. However, try telling that to the tearful six-year-old on Christmas morning who has just realised that Santa wasn't able to bring them the Dr Who Dalek mask they asked for. Encourage customers to pre-order and buy early to avoid disappointment through your ad copy.

Security Matters
Christmas is also the time when people are likely to take to shopping online for the first time. However with recurring stories in the media that Internet fraud and identity theft are on the increase, how do you get a nervous first-time Internet customer to shop with you? If your website is accredited by ISIS (Internet Shopping Is Safe) or you use a secure, encrypted payment system such as PayPal or World Pay, mention this is in your copy to reassure buyers that you take their security and custom seriously. For more advice on e-commerce security messaging visit: GetSafeOnline.org.

Season's greetings and may your cash registers ring like Christmas bells! Don't forget to return soon when Libby will share her top tips on writing ad copy for Travel websites.

Cheers,
Kate

The Icing on the Cake: Using Creativity in Your Ads

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:05:49 GMT

Today, Libby Thomas gives us some tips on adding a little extra spice to our ad copy.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

In the last few weeks, the Creative Services Team have written a series of posts on Ad Copy Best Practice, and in doing so have dished out easy-to-follow recipes for making delicious ads.

Ingredients have included using Calls To Action , the benefits of Dynamic Text Insertion and Boosting Your Brand Name.

Today’s helping is the icing on the cake; using creativity. By infusing a bit of wit and imagination into your ads, you could really boost your CTR, brand awareness and visibility, and make your ads stand out from your competition.

Although being imaginative can be a great bonus, it’s important not to sacrifice clarity for creativity. Make sure your ads are still factual and relevant. Our recommendation would be to run an additional creative ad at the same time as your more matter-of-fact ones so your customers get a good variety.

Add a touch of search appeal by applying the following best practices...

Leverage the marketing language used on your website and display/offline advertising. If you’ve got a witty tagline that’s working well elsewhere, chances are it’ll perform on Live search too.
Describe your product or service in an original and appealing way. For example, say “luxurious, silk quilts” instead of ‘’duvets”, use “comfy, spacious planes“ instead of “economy flights”, mention “nippy 5-door motors” instead of “hire cars”.
Use tempting adjectives.

Here are some powerful examples:

Bon appétit everyone, and don’t forget to come back soon for a slice of Seasonality with Kate.

Thanks a lot,

Libby

Discover how to improve ad click through rate and conversions with an effective call to action!

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 08:30:43 GMT

Today Simone continues our series of posts on how to create great ad copy.

Cheers

Mel - adCenter Community Team

An inviting call to action (CTA), which is specific and used in the right context, can boost the CTR and conversion rate of your PPC ads in two ways:-

1. By inviting them to take direct action

2. By letting the user know exactly what you want them to do once they arrive on your webpage

For example, if you establish that the potential customer needs to sign up or register for an account before they can use your service, you can avoid clicks from those who are not prepared to go through the sign-up process and save some of those advertising pennies.

On the other hand, when the wrong type of CTA is used, such as the infamously overused ‘Click Here!’, it can be off-putting for the consumer and result in repetitive ads. As a result, most of the PPC providers will not allow the use of ‘Click Here’ in ads, including Microsoft adCenter.

Not only is important to choose the right CTAs for your ads, you also need to think about the way in which you include them. CTAs are more effective when they are specific to the product or service being offered, and where they are built into the ads seamlessly, rather than being used as standalone commands or orders.

For example:

Which CTAs should you use to improve CTR and conversions?

A Microsoft research team dived deeper into the world of CTAs and Live Search users to figure out which CTAs had the most positive impact on CTR. Here is what they discovered...

1. Some CTAs are more valuable than others

Naturally, the research showed that certain CTAs stood out as performance enhancers. Below are the top phrases that were proven to enhance CTR versus those that had less impact.

It is important to stress that the CTAs on the right may work well for advertisers in certain verticals. You may also find that some of the strong CTAs do not make sense for your business, or perform particularly well for you. Just remember to test different ads, using control elements, so you can isolate the CTAs and other aspects of your ads that are working for you.

2. CTAs have greater impact on performance when the ads appear in the top 3 results

The top CTAs enhanced CTR when shown in the top three results but this effect diminished when the ads displayed in the right hand rail.

3. CTAs placed in the ad text have slightly more impact than those placed in the title

It does not really seem to make a lot of difference whether the CTA is used in the beginning, middle or end of the ad text. Using the CTA in both the ad title and the ad does not seem to have a major additional positive impact.

Top tips to help you get the most out of call to actions:

• Use CTAs that are specific to your products and services
• Get the most out of your CTA by ensuring your ad appears within the top three results
• Integrate CTAs fully in to your ad copy and avoid standalone commands
• Include the CTA in your ad description

Next time Libby Thomas will blog about how creativity can enhance your ad performance!

Three for the Price of One: Pricing, Special Offers and Unique Selling Points

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:35:09 GMT

Hello Everyone

It's that time of the week when one of our Creative Services Team gives some cracking advice on how to write great ad copy.

Today we hear from Libby Thomas.

Mel - adCenter Community Team

Pricing

Everybody loves a bargain so if you’re selling one, make sure you shout about it in your ads. Including a specific price point can double CTR! Once you’ve checked out the competition and confirmed that your deal is definitely a steal, write an ad to reflect this, e.g. ‘Return flights to Paris for £25’. Ensure that the same price is represented on the landing page to speed the ad through the editorial process, and to make the user experience as smooth as possible.

Special Offers

You may also have a special offer that you want everyone to know about. If your product or service is available at a discounted rate or with additional value, make sure your ad states this, e.g. ‘save 20%’, ‘pay £5 less’, ‘huge discounts’. Again, try to make the offer as specific as possible, so the searcher knows exactly what a great deal they’re getting. Include specific price points where you can.

Unique Selling Points

You can also differentiate your product by calling out its Unique Selling Point (USP). This is the single most saleable feature of a product or service, e.g. ‘limited edition CDs’, ‘no commissions’, ‘guaranteed delivery before Christmas’.

In the retail sector, ‘free shipping’ or ‘free delivery’ are two of the strongest USPs. Distinguishing your product through USP can have a fantastic effect on CTR, but bear in mind that “over 50% of users prefer to click on factual rather than “salesy” listings” (Source: AC Nielsen).

Here are some of the most effective USPs on Microsoft adCenter:

Consider using Dynamic Text Insertion – {param2} and {param3} - to insert prices, special offers or USPs if you plan to update them regularly.

Coming Up...

Please pop back soon when Simone Schuurer will be here with top tips around "Calls to Action".

Thanks!

Libby

Get a Boost from your Brand!

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:35:08 GMT

Today, Simone follows Kate's post on Dynamic Text Insertion, with another gem from the Creative Services Team on using branding techniques in your adCenter campaigns.

Mel - adCenter Community Team

The Creative Services Team has another tip up its sleeve to enhance the performance of your ads. This week we’d like to draw your attention to the benefit of using brand names in your ads.

The Power of Brand Names

The creation of a strong brand identity is important to every company, large and small, all around the World. Brands built with care can say a multitude of things in just one word such as: hip, secure, quality, trendy, established, reliable, cutting edge, energetic, leadership and trustworthy. Advertisers go to great lengths to strengthen and protect their brand identity through traditional advertising mediums. We believe that it is just as important for this to extend to paid search advertising. Please read on to find out why.

Live Search and Brand Popularity

Approximately 35% of the top searches in the UK, USA and France are brand related, which gives you an idea just how brand focused our Live Search users are. If your brand is strong (and strong brands come in all shapes and sizes) include it in at least in one of your ad titles and try to get it in the descriptions too! We have often seen click through rates (CTRs) increase when brand names have been included effectively.

Smart Use of Space & a Great USP!

One might argue that space is at a premium in the world of search advertising ad copy but if your brand is strong, it will say more than a thousand words! Strong brands can also be a very powerful unique selling point as some users may prefer to buy or use a trusted source instead of a unknown one.

The use of ‘Official Site’

Using ‘Official Site’ in your ad title (when appropriate) will further help you to stand out from the crowd. This works best when you own a big brand, are selling a unique product or when you are dealing with multiple affiliates. A good example of this is the vacuum cleaner manufacturer, Dyson, who offer their products directly to the consumer as well as through resellers. They could incorporate ‘official site’ in their ad text to attract customers that need more information about Dyson in general, or who feel more confident buying directly from the manufacturer.

Next…

So don’t waste any time! Boost that brand and stand out from the crowd!

The next Creative Services post will be in the hands of Libby Thomas next who will explain what pricing and special offers can do for your account performance.

Simone Schuurer - Creative Services Team

The Fight to Be Dynamic: Keyword Insertion versus Dynamic Text Insertion {param2}

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:56:42 GMT

Hello Everyone

Today, Kate from our Creative Services team continues their great series of posts on best practices for writing PPC ad copy.

Regards

Mel - adCenter Community Team

Keyword insertion {keyword} is great, isn’t it? It’s quick, convenient, and scalable and you always get the keyword into your titles because as ‘Golden Rule #1 of PPC’ advertising dictates: a potential customer is statistically more likely to click on an ad when they see the very thing they’ve searched for in the ad.

But with the sheer convenience of {keyword} insertion there are some disadvantages, which can impact CTR. The main issue being that {keyword} insertion isn’t very versatile.

Here’s why:

• Keyword may be longer than the 25 character limit for titles
• Keyword is misspelt or contains grammatical errors
• Keyword is made up of a search string or phrase which is not logical or grammatically correct, for example: ‘white trainers kids’ instead of ‘kids’ white trainers’

When {keyword} insertion is not implemented carefully within adCenter it can result in extra work and can even impact campaign performance. This could mean that keyword ad group combinations are rejected and CTR is lower than anticipated because ads are misspelt, are incomplete, and sometimes just don’t make sense.

Introducing Dynamic Text Insertion

This is where Dynamic Text insertion, a unique adCenter function that utilises the placeholders {param1}, {param2} and {param3}, can help transform the fortunes for your ads. Unlike {keyword} insertion, Dynamic Text is versatile whilst remaining scalable.

How does it work?

Dynamic Text insertion works in a very similar way to {keyword} insertion but instead of instructing adCenter to pull keyword data you can direct it to pull data from a pre-determined source which you have created.

• If submitting keywords via a spreadsheet – Dynamic Text {Param2} should be placed in Column K
• If submitting keywords via Microsoft adCenter you can access the Dynamic Text fields from the ‘keyword’ tab

How does {param1} work?

As you can see from the screenshot above, you have 1,022 characters for this dynamic placeholder which is usually why customers like to use this for highly-targeted destination URLs; this allows you to chose a very specific landing page for every keyword within the account. The table shows how different keywords for coffee determine the webpage that your potential customer is directed to.

Keywords                       {param1}
gourmet coffee                www.fourthcoffee.com/gourmet
flavoured coffee              www.fourthcoffee.com/flavoured
discount coffee                www.fourthcoffee.com/specials

What can I do with Dynamic Text insertion {param2} & {param3} that I can’t with {keyword} insertion?

Like, {param1}, you can use {param2} and {param3} to customise ads at the time a user is searching in order to create a more targeted and specific experience.

For further advice and information about how Dynamic Text insertion please search adCenter Help and come back later this week when Simone will be talking you through the importance of incorporating branding into your ad creatives.

Cheers,

Kate

Top Dog Ad Optimisation Tips for Spotting and Improving Underperforming Ads

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 15:55:51 GMT

Today Kate Newton continues our Creative Services Team's look at how to write great adCenter ad copy.

Enjoy!

Mel - adCenter Community Team

Let’s recap so far - Libby talked about creating beautiful ads & Simone discussed the merits of attracting the right customers with awesome adCenter ad copy.

This week I’ll be talking you through how to optimise your ads to achieve maximum return on investment (ROI).
If you’ve followed Libby and Simone’s advice your ads should be starting to pay dividends. However, as the pay-per-click market is very competitive, continually assessing your ad strategy is essential to ensuring you are the top dog without having to resort to raising bid prices.

How do I monitor my ads?

Keeping an eye on the key performance indicators (KPIs) is a great way to monitor your ads and you can do this through the ‘Report’ tab within adCenter. You can pull reports on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis – it’s really up to you. The most effective way to see which ads are really working is to customise your report to ensure that the ad description text is included in the report. This way you’ll be able to see quickly which of your offers and unique selling points (USPs) are appealing to your desired audience.
For FAQs about pulling & reading adCenter reports click here (link to adCenter reports help pages)

How do I keep ad copy fresh and maintain a competitive edge?

If it’s not broken you don’t have to fix it right? Wrong! Even the most tantalising ad copy can become tired over time. For example your competitors may have started to imitate your winning style & offers sapping your creative edge. The trick is to stay innovative and alert to the moving market. If you notice that a previously well performing ad starts to drop in impressions/positioning and/or CTR then it might be time to rethink your marketing message. This brings me nicely to...

How do I amend, replace & delete ailing ads?

One question the Creative Team hears a lot from customers is “Should I be amending and deleting underperforming ads?” Best practice is that instead of fixing an ailing ad we always suggest creating a replacement first. Why? Because the old ad will retain its previous adCenter history, so any amendments you do make will take longer to have an effect or may not have the impact you might expect. By introducing a new ad you can quickly see how effective your changes have been compared to the old one.

Delete or not to delete: Is that question?

The same principal can be used when deleting old ad copy. Only delete old ads when you are sure they are no longer working (generating impressions), because once you delete an ad you will lose all history relating to it.
Remember that when you look at ad performance, it is aggregated for all the keywords within the ad group; an ad may actually be performing well for certain keywords in the ad group, so it is important to consider how well individual keywords are actually converting too. You can have 20 different ads per ad group so use ad deletion sparingly! We advise testing between 3-5 ads to get a really good idea of which USPs or calls to action work best.

The Pepsi Challenge: How to use A/B testing to discover (xyz)

Do you remember the Pepsi taste challenge from the 80s cola wars between Pepsi and Coca-Cola? A/B testing works along similar principals. To get a better understanding of a desired target audiences ‘tastes’, create several ads with similar yet subtly different messages. This can prove a very smart and effective way of honing your sales message. A/B testing can be particularly useful in situations where you may have more than one target audience.

How it works...

Lingerie is very popular all year round with women, but between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, men buying lingerie registers high on the radars of many lingerie retailers. One savvy adCenter retailer regularly employs three different ads (one appealing to women, one appealing to men and a third gender-neutral generic ad).

By having the three different ads it gives the advertiser great insight into who exactly is using their website and what their customers’ needs are.

Best practices

A/B testing best practices includes introducing between three and five ads per ad group. Anymore than this can mean the impressions are being diluted between too many ads and the account can become hard to track and manage.

Please pop back again next week when I’ll be settling a few myths on the {keyword} Vs {param2} dynamic text insertion debate.

Thanks,

Kate