August 16,
2006
In This Issue:
1. Creating Compelling PPC Ads
2. In the News - SES recaps. Google adds coupons
3. More News Headlines
4. Wrapping It Up
_________________
Creating Compelling PPC Ads
The Search Engine Strategies Conference in San
Jose last week was a great experience, and I can't
recommend it highly enough for those of you who
want to keep up on the latest and best practices
for search engine marketing. I went out of my
way to sit in on as many sessions about PPC advertising
as I could, simply because we haven't been asked
by clients over the years to focus on PPC a lot,
so my knowledge is more limited (as compared to
organic SEO).
The best PPC-related session I attended was called
"Creating Compelling Ads", and it offered
best practices on writing the ads you use in Google
AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing. The two speakers
were Phil Stelter of Range
Online Media and Darren Kuhn of Resolution
Media. Both emphasized the need to test your
ad copy heavily so you can learn which ads produce
the best response in terms of click-thru rates
and conversions.
Some other hints they shared:
- The ad Title is the most important element,
and has to catch the searcher's attention. Always
include your keywords in the Title of the ad.
- The ad Description should be customized as much
as possible, and should include your "unique
value proposition" -- i.e., what separates
you from the competition.
- Always use proper grammar and spelling in your
PPC ads. (You'd be surprised how many ads fail
on this point!)
And in terms of the "big picture" of
a PPC ad campaign, Phil Stelter emphasized this
point: "Clicks are not a goal." In other
words, clicks on your ads are useless if they
don't produce conversions / sales. All clicks
do is cost you money, so make sure your goals
go beyond click-thru rates to include conversions,
return-on-investment, etc.
I have a lot of notes from all the sessions I
attended, and plan to recap a lot of my notes
in upcoming editions of Net Gains.
_________________
In The News
SES Session Recaps
The Search Engine Roundtable web site had several
reporters attending as many conference sessions
as possible, and "live blogging" each
on the web (including the Small Business session
where I spoke!). So if you weren't there, and
would like one person's recap of what was said,
use the link below for the full list of session
recaps.
Search Engine Roundtable: SES
San Jose 2006 Recaps
Google Maps adds coupons
Google announced this week that merchants will
soon be able to offer printable coupons via the
business listings that are included in Google
Maps. The idea is to encourage small businesses
without a web site, or without a way to track
their online marketing, to take advantage of local
search marketing with a tangible way to measure
the success of using Google Maps as a marketing
tool. If your business is not already included
in Google Maps, the link below will help you get
started.
Google
Local Business Center
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
Unsubscribing:
Get more out of 'goodbye'
August 16, 2006 - ClickZ.com
What's
the big deal with social search?
August 15, 2006 - Search Engine Watch
The
power of the About Us page
August 04, 2006 - ClickZ.com
What does your 'About Us' page say about your
business?
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
Wrapping it Up
That's all for this week. As a reminder for new
subscribers, I do welcome questions via email
about SEO, web development, online marketing,
etc. - and when appropriate, we may use your question
(and my reply) here in the newsletter to help
all readers!
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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