Szetela 25-3-08 Search Marketing Now Webcast

Slide 1: 10 Lessons Learned About Paid Search David Szetela, Clix Marketing Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:00 PM EDT ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 2: Viewing Tips • Turn Off Pop-Up Blockers • Technical difficulties? – Use “Help” link or Q+A box • Submitting questions to speaker – Use “Ask a Question” box – Send questions at any time • Webcast will be available on-demand ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 3: Marin Search Marketer • Next-generation paid search management application • Designed by and for search experts • For advertisers > $50K/mo • Free 30-day trial; works with existing URLs ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 4: David Szetela • Contributor to Search Engine Land • Founded PPC Ad Agency Clix Marketing in 2003, following a 25-year career in technology sales and marketing • Author of two lessons in SEMPO’s Advanced Search Advertising course • Frequent speaker at industry conferences such as Search Marketing Expo ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 5: 1. Mixed Search and Content Campaigns ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 6: 1. Mixed Search and Content Campaigns ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 7: 2. Believing Search Keywords = Content Keywords • Keywords are not discrete entities • Keywords describe target sites – not your product/service • Keywords + Ad Text = one of 594 Themes • No more than 20-40 keywords per ad group ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 8: 2. Believing Search Keywords = Content Keywords (cont) • Match types are irrelevant (except negative) • Individual keyword bids are irrelevant • Negative keywords are necessary ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 9: 3. Ignorance about Content Ad Sites • Google Placement Performance Reports are vital • Show performance (clicks, conversions) by site where ads are served • Eliminate poorly-performing sites w/Site Exclusion Tool – now with Topic and Page Type exclusion ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 10: 4. Using Search Ads in Content Ad Groups • Content ads need to stand out • Yell, don’t whisper • Be more competitive – e.g. free shipping • Strong, explicit calls to action • Test, test, test ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 11: 5. Neglecting Long Tail Keywords • Common stems (e.g. best, online), plus: • False plurals – widget’s, widgets’ • Domains – www.widgets.com, widgets com, ww widgets • Weird Delimiters - >, +, ‘ • Competitor terms and domains – Coyote Widgets, coyotewidgets.com ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 12: 6. Gigantic Ad Groups • Too many unrelated keywords • Often via abuse of keyword research tools • Objective: every keyword appears in the ad copy ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 13: 7. Writing Bad Search Ads • Keyword in headline, then qualifier • Benefits work better than features • Tightly couple ad text with keywords and landing pages • Test everything, big and small – e.g. caps in display url ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 14: 7a. Writing Great Ads Keyword in Title Winning at Billards Get the Must-read Secrets – Winning Action Verb Capitalized Words At Billiards. Sign Up for Daily Emails! www.PokerBlasts.com/Poker+Winning Extra Words in More Action at End Display URL ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 15: 8. Landing on Home Pages • Assume every visitor suffers from ADD • You have just milliseconds to convince them “You’ve Come to the Right Place” • Repeat search terms on landing pages ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 16: Search Term: Gallery Wrapped Photo ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 17: Search Term: Wedding Photo ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 18: Search Term: Dog Portrait ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 19: 9. Complicated B2B Lead Forms • Offer multiple contact options • Neat, clean contact form • Require the minimum info necessary • Apologetic error trapping • Autoresponder for immediate feedback ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 20: 10. Manual Bidding for Complex Campaigns 1MM+ keywords; $1MM+/mo SEM management software Agency Campaign Size / Complexity 20K keywords $20K/mo DIY / Excel 0% 50% 100% Search as % of Marketing Spending ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 21: David Szetela • Email: david@clixmarketing.com • Company Blog: www.clixmarketing.com/blog • Content Advertising Column: http:// searchenginewatch.com/showPage =sew_experts/content_advert ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.

Slide 22: Questions? Email us: webcasts@searchmarketingnow.com Thanks to today’s sponsor: www.marinsoftware.com Email Marin at info@marinsoftware.com ©2006 Third Door Media, Inc.