Maximizing return on pay per click campaigns roadmap to successful web marketing
1. Maximizing the Return
on Your Pay-Per-Click
Campaigns:
A key roadmap to successful
web marketing
Manager, SEO and SEM for
By Al Carl Reynolds Web Solutions
2. Paid Search
The Agenda:
What Is Paid Search?
Internet & the Automotive Industry
Should Paid Search Be An Integral Component of Your Online
Marketing Efforts?
Pay Per Click Basics
Changes in the Landscape
3. Paid Search – What Is It?
Paid Search / Pay Per Click (PPC)
5. Paid Search – Auto Industry
According to the Polk 2007 Dealer eBusiness
Performance Study of New Car Shoppers:
88%
Conducted research before
walking into a dealership
83%
Used the Internet to do
vehicle research
79%
Used Search to research
auto dealers
6. Paid Search – Auto Industry
Automotive Online Advertising Spending
7. Paid Search – Auto Industry
On-Line Advertising
Only 20% of Web users (for car information)
said they used print ads when researching
vehicles compared to 32% in 2005.*
The number of consumers visiting five or more
manufacturer sites declined from 44% in 2005 to
34%.*
42% of used car buyers said they turn to dealer
sites when researching vehicles.*
30% of retailers traffic in the US came from
paid search in August 2008. Within the automotive
industry it was only 25% - Hitwise
* Capgemini: Cars Online 07/08
8. Paid Search – Auto Industry
Automotive Online Advertising Spending *
$4.0
$3.5
$3.0
$2.5
$2.0
$1.5
$1.0
$0.5
$0.0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Online Ad Spending in Billions of Dollars
9. Paid Search – Auto Industry
Top 10 Automotive Websites by US Market Share of Visits (%) – Hitwise August 2008
eBay Motors
AutoTrader.com
Edmunds
Cars.com
RacingJunk.com
Copart Auto Auctions
Automotive.com
Car-Part.com
CycleTrader.com
Truck Paper
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00
10. Paid Search – Auto Industry
3rd Party Lead Sites Paid Search Est. Daily Budgets
$35,000
$30,000
KBB
$25,000
AB
$20,000
AM
$15,000
C
$10,000 AT
$5,000 E
$0
KBB AB AM C AT E
KBB – Kelly Blue Book - $6.35k C – Cars.com - $16.4k
AB – AutoBytel - $6.9k AT – AutoTrader - $23.2k
AM – AutoMart - $11.3k E – Edmunds - $30.2k
12. Paid Search – Integral Component
Protection of Branded Terms
% of traffic from % of traffic from #1 Organic
#1 Organic Listing & #1 Paid Listing
60%
92%
Brand Site
Other Sites
40% 8%
Branded Search Study, Nielsen ReelResearch
13. Paid Search – Integral Component
More Traffic
A study conducted by iCrossing
illustrated a synergistic effect
between paid and organic listings.
The study indicated that having
prominent placement in both lead
to an increase in traffic of 91.8%
and a 45% increase in desired
actions taken by visitors over that
produced by only having a top
organic placement.
14. Paid Search – Integral Component
Lower Bounce Rates
Referral
48.70%
Organic
44.80%
Paid
44.00%
Direct
42.30%
35.00% 40.00% 45.00% 50.00%
Engine Ready “SEO vs. PPC – The Final Round
15. Paid Search – Integral Component
Higher Sales
% of Sales Volume by Traffic Source
Direct Access
39% 27%
Paid Search
Other Referring
Sites
Organic
11% 23%
Engine Ready – 27 companies over a 2 year period measuring visitor
metrics by traffic source. *Only 22% of visitors were repeat visitors.
16. Paid Search – Integral Component
Why Pay Per Click Traffic Is Valuable
Controlled Messaging
Easy Variation Testing
Direct the Traffic
Specific Targeting
18. Paid Search – The Fundamentals
Search Engine Breakdown July 2008 – Hitwise
Google 70.77%
Yahoo! 18.65%
MSN 5.36%
ASK 3.53%
Others 1.69%
19. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
Paid Search – Seems Simple, What’s The Big Deal?
Multiple Steps
Keyword / Search Term Selection
Ad Title
Ad Copy
Landing Factors
Traffic Conversion Process
Analytics, Analytics, Analytics ….
Test and Test Some More
Highly Competitive
Filled With Details
Fluid – Constantly Evolving
Plenty of Opportunity to Lose Money
21. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
Paid Search Ranking Factors
Bid Amount
Budget
Relevancy
Click Through Rates
Landing Page Quality
Type Of Site
22. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
Paid Search – Basic Steps
Start With The End In Mind
Know The Competition
In-Depth Keyword Research
Creative Ad Title & Text
Landing Pages
Have A Planned Conversion Path
Detailed Analytics
Test & Test Some More
23. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
Paid Search – Start With The End In Mind
What is the goal of your paid search campaign?
Visibility
Branding
Sales
How will you define success?
Traffic
Leads
Sales
Profit
How will you measure it?
24. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
Study the Competition
Ads
Targeted Keywords
Scope of Campaigns
Visitor Path
Do Not Always Assume #1 Is Doing It Right
25. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
In-Depth Keyword Research
Develop Extensive Keywords
Click-Through and Conversion Rates Vary Dramatically
From Keyword to Keyword
Multiple Word Keywords Typically Have Higher Conversion Rates
Some Tools To Use:
Yahoo! Search Assist
Live Search Related Searches
Microsoft adCenter Labs - http://adlab.msn.com
Google Keyword Tool - https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Google AdWords Traffic Estimator -
https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox
26. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
Yahoo! Search Assist & MSN Live Related Searches
Live Related Searches
27. Paid Search - The Fundamentals
Microsoft adCenter Labs
Search Funnel Tool:
Shows most common
searches after input search
term.
28. Paid Search - Fundamentals
Google AdWords Keyword Tool
30. Paid Search - Fundamentals
Creative Ad Title & Text
Do Not Overlook Ad Copy
Serve Alternative Ads
Monitor Results
Emphasize High-Flyers
Dump the Dogs
Do It All Over Again
“Ads Matter – Testing shows us that ad copy can have a huge influence on conversion
rates….Search Ad copy is an art…”
Jonathan Mendez
VP Business Development
Kaimen Associates
& Digital Strategist
31. Paid Search - Fundamentals
Landing Pages
Page Should Be Singularly Focused &
Consistent With Search Term
Have Simple & Straight Forward Navigation
Include A Straightforward Call To Action
Some studies have shown two calls to
action can significantly increase
conversion rates.
Only Ask For Necessary Information
Require as little as possible
Quite Often Less Is More
Test
Multi-Variant
A/B
33. Paid Search - Fundamentals
Analytics
Pick A Robust Platform
Google Analytics Most Popular
Other Major Analytics Providers:
Core Metrics
Omniture
Web Trends
Get To Know Your Analytics Solution
Basic Analytics To Monitor
Click-Through Rates
Traffic Source
Bounce Rates
Conversion Rates
Engagement / Time Spent On Site
34. Paid Search - Fundamentals
A Well Run Paid Search Campaign Will Deliver
Better Qualified Leads
Improved Close Rates
Increased Sales Margins
Better Returns
On Ad Spend
Investment
More Sales
40. Paid Search – Landscape
Mobile
Mobile Search grew 68% from June
2007 to 2008.*
In June 2008 20.8 million U.S.
mobile subscribers accessed search.*
Google had 63.0% of the searches;
Yahoo 34.6%.*
Estimated Mobile Search revenue
for 2007 is $33.2 million. – tkg consulting
* comScore