Here is another PPC learning event with discount if you are a SEMPO member.

If you are a SEMPO Member, the discount code for your group is:

sempo10

and is good for 10% off any of the ticket options (which equates to ~20% if they register for both days since we already offer a $50 multi-day discount). Every attendee will still receive the $50 AdWords credit for EACH day they attend, issued by Google after the seminar via email.

The url for registration is: http://www.bgtheory.com/adwords-seminar-for-success-toronto-2009/

The event name is:
AdWords(tm) Seminar for Success – Toronto
The event is at:
Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport
3311 Caroga Drive
Mississauga, Ontario, CA L4V 1A3
8:30 am – 5:00 PM

8/25/09 AdWords 301: Advanced Account Optimization focuses on best practices for Keywords, Ad Copy, and Landing Pages in addition to a deep dive into Quality Score, the Content Network, and Geographic Targeting. This day is jam-packed full of tips and techniques you can functionally use to improve your accounts overall performance.

8/26/09 AdWords 302: Advanced Conversion Optimization concentrates on how to increase your conversions and your profits! Topics include Bidding Types and Strategies, Tracking Conversions, Split Testing, and Account Organization. The information included in this session can have a positive, dramatic impact on your bottom line – this is a must attend event!

If you have any questions about this PPC learning event in Toronto, please ask Leslie Clark: leslie@bgtheory.com

AdWords(tm) Seminar for Success come to Vancouver, BC. Please find all the details below including a 10% discount for SEMPO Canada members.

Vancouver Digital Marketing Group Members use code sempo1 for a 10% discount!
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/247294665?discount=sempo1

2/11/2009 AdWords 301: Advanced Account Optimization
2/12/2009 AdWords 302: Advanced Conversion Optimization

Where:
Four Points by Sheraton Vancouver Airport
8368 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC V6X 4A6
8:30 am – 5:00 PM

What are Google(tm) AdWords Advanced Seminars?

The AdWords Seminar for Success Advanced series are two days of interactive education that will help you make the most of the time and money you invest in AdWords. Officially sponsored by Google, you can trust that you are receiving the most accurate and up-to-date information on the best practices for advertising with Google AdWords.

You can choose to attend only one day, or receive a 10% discount if you choose to register for both days! Plus, if you register today, you will also receive:

AdWords Seminar Bonuses
* $100 AdWords Credit ($50 if you register for a single day) **Must Register 7 Days in Advance
* 2 USB Thumb Drives with Presentation Materials (1 for each day)
* Other Google Goodies
* Bonus Presentations:

Day 1: Marketing in a Down Economy: Superior Profits on a Minimal Budget

Day 2: Actionable Items: Step-by-Step: How to Maximize Results for Your Limited Time

Advanced AdWords Seminars Overview
AdWords 301: Advanced Account Optimization focuses on best practices for Keywords, Ad Copy, and Landing Pages in addition to a deep dive into Quality Score, the Content Network, and Geographic Targeting. This day is jam-packed full of tips and techniques you can functionally use to improve your accounts overall perofrmance. You can see the in-depth curriculum here.

AdWords 302: Advanced Conversion Optimization concentrates on how to increase your conversions and your profits! Topics include Bidding Types and Strategies, Tracking Conversions, Split Testing, and Account Organization. The information included in this session can have a positive, dramatic impact on your bottom line – this is a must attend event! You can see the in-depth curriculum here.

Who should attend these seminars?
The 301 and 302 Advanced AdWords seminars are designed for seasoned Search Enginge Marketing professionals. If you are an experienced ppc analyst, manager,or executive these courses are for you.

To see the full course curriculum and to register go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/247294665?discount=sempo1

I have been using an excellent PPC (Pay Per Click) Management tool called Acquisio Search in the last few months to help manage numerous PPC (Pay Per Click) accounts, including Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing & MSN Adcenter (aka. The Big 3) Acquisio now releases an important update today which I would like to go over in more details.

During the last few months that I have been using the tool and going through my own learning curve, I must say that Acquisio has help me save a lot of time in managing PPC accounts and I am now able to provide stellar reports to my clients. The consolidated view of all the different campaigns for all the accounts in one single (and easy to use) interface makes it far easier than managing them manually. Those who manage multiple PPC accounts on behalf of clients know what I am talking about. Creating reports is the least favorite task in PPC Management and Acquisio makes this part very easy and fun. So far, I have been especially impress with the consolidated view it offers, with the campaigns related to the 3 main search engines, the easy to use interface, as well the quality of the report it produces. There are some other really cool functionalities including the campaign optimizer, the mass editor which I am starting to use and help saving a lot of time.

Up to now, Acquisio has been focusing exclusively on the top 2 engines (Google & Yahoo) and they have recently introduced MSN Adcenter as part of the mix. This is the next big thing as part of their development, which is why I felt compelled to talk about it today. Here is the full-on release of the most recent update.
Acquisio’s team has been extremely busy in the past few weeks working on the release of several very important features for our PPC Management platform, and they’re finally ready. The latest release of Acquisio SEARCH includes the following:

Microsoft adCenter Support: Finally, we’re ecstatic to announce that we’ve practically completed work on the integration of Microsoft adCenter to Acquisio SEARCH, which we will release to everyone in the coming days. However, if you need access to it right now, please contact me and I will activate your account as a beta tester immediately – there are still a few small issues with the integration, which will be resolved this week, but you will be able to produce reports and work with the editor. We will look to integrate other search engines, shopping feeds and directories in the near future. We count on you to let us know what your favorites are so we can prioritize our work according to your needs.

Support for Various Conversion Types: We now support all adWords conversion types.

Support for Revenue Metrics – ROAS and many more: You can now see revenue data in all your reports.

Column Picker: You will now be able to pick and choose which metrics are important to each account in a column picker.

New Summary Tables for Reports: You can now produce summary tables to compare overall performance for multiple date ranges, for various search engines, campaigns, ad groups, keywords, content vs search, etc.

In case you didn’t know, there were other releases in the past month or so. Here is a list of the most important features:

- Possibility to request a custom design for reports
- New custom colors in reports
- Login, can now remember credentials
- New Cost Per Conversion column in Optimizer
- New Geotarget with Google Maps
- New ad-scheduling interface (redesign, mostly)
- Editor Support for Mobile Ads, Local Business Ads, Image Ads, Placements, and Negative Placements
- Google budget optimizer supported in Editor
- Added a Client Center shortcut
- Adding a component (from dashboard) to a report will create an extra title component (i.e.: Most impressions)
- New snap grid behavior in reports (blue square preview) – makes it much easier to move things around

We hope you will enjoy these new features, and we look forward to hearing any feedback you may have – we do this for you, so your reactions are important to us. Good or bad, we want to hear it.

*********************************************
Acquisio: in the works:
*********************************************
Coming up in the next few days:
- Access Rights
- Add to Report from the Mass Editor

Also coming soon:
- Automated Bid Management

Don’t hesitate to call Alex Lamoureux at 1.866.493.9070 ext.: 211 if you need further explanations on any of these new features, or if you want to gain immediate access to Acquisio SEARCH.

Every time Gord Hotchkiss, President of Enquiro based in Kelowna (BC) Canada and also Chairperson of SEMPO, write an article, you can be confident that he is going to hit the nail right on the head. In his most recent article on Ad Agencies and Search Marketing, Gord mentions that Ad Agencies are far from “getting” search and follow search marketing best practices. Even when they include search, for as little as they do, they miss the mark by a mile. It is especially dramatic when it comes to budgeting for it. Media plans & budgets are based on arbitrary numbers which are not a reflection of comprehensive business objectives. According to Gord, “Search dollars should be the first ones in, not the last. Take as much search inventory as you can get. Judge your costs per acquisition not against your top performing keywords, but against your other channels, both online and offline. If even the marginal search traffic is generating a lower CPA, beg, borrow and steal as much budget as you can and top up search. Only then should you move from “pull” (prospects holding up their hands to purchase through search) to “push” (trying to persuade latent prospects to purchase). Only put restrictions on your search campaign if you’re absolutely certain that another channel can exceed its effectiveness.”

Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro

For a review of all the benefits for doing Search Marketing, budgeting for it as well providing a perspective on the utilization of search to reach branding objectives, take a minute to read the article.

If you want more, take a minute to read this: Search And the Digital CPG Shelf. It is about the utilization of Search Marketing for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), an area that has historically never used Search Marketing. The findings of the study are quite revealing and will convince the most skeptics.

Have you ever tried to get a set of keywords live on Google AdWords and you continually have to increase the minimum bid just to stay live? I have been going through this lately, and my ads cannot be more phrase matched, targeted or optimized for what I think is a good Quality Score. I have the keyword in the title, description and URL of the ad, as well as optimized landing pages, so why can’t I get them live and keep them live? There are competitors on the same terms, but not more than 7 or so. Even trying to bid on the company name doesn’t come cheaply – it’s up to $1.20, and no one else is bidding on this term.

Is it possible that there are minimum CPC’s for specific categories that are pre-determined to be more than the 5 cent minimum? The company name has a competitive word in it that could possibly trigger its placement in a specific vertical. Google does have the power and data to set market prices, even though this hasn’t been part of the company policy historically (in the spirit of “do no evil”).  But if search revenue growth patterns are starting to slow because the market is becoming mature, it could stand to reason that Google might want to recover revenue growth from increased bid prices.  Not to mention that Google is getting better at countering click fraud, and so in theory advertisers are receiving cleaner traffic than they were a year ago. If there is no more minimum bid price, but a price set by Google, determined by fraud clean-up by vertical and overall search volume demand, is this fairer than free market prices?

Deborah Kilpatrick
President, dSideMarketing.com