Pulling Levers Blog

When a well-known, furniture retailer and manufacturer contracted Lever Interactive to manage their paid search campaign, they had several goals they wanted to achieve.  Besides the most common goal we hear from all of our clients (please make our campaigns more efficient!), they wanted to make sure they were spending money in the right locations.  Their unique challenge is that they are in 26 different DMAs across the United States with over 100 corporate store locations, and their goal is driving foot traffic to a store; not an online purchase or lead.

Previous to contracting Lever, this furniture retailer was working with another agency that targeted all 26 DMAs within each Google AdWords campaign.  While it is great that they were targeting each of the markets, there were several problems we isolated right out of the gate.

1)      With all DMAs combined, the retailer had limited insight into which markets where driving conversions or cost. 

2)      They were unable to control budget by DMA; one of the client’s ultimate goals. 

DMAs are different shapes and sizes depending on the area.  We discovered the previous agency was targeting DMAs without consideration of store locations. In one market, for example, they were targeting a huge metropolis but their store location was actually on the very outskirts of the DMA.  The DMA spanned over 100 miles from one end to the other…which is a long way to drive to see furniture!

 

So, after digging into their historical data and identifying their “pain points” and objectives, we started outlining our process for restructuring the account with the following goals in mind:

1)      The retailer needed comprehensive, DMA level performance data so they could make better informed decisions on where to allocate their media spend based on in-store and web traffic.

2)      They needed to know that the users they were targeting geographically were qualified, and most likely to translate into store traffic. (Conversions were tracked based on visits to the store locator page).

In the end, Lever decided to restructure the account based on DMA, with a new account for each DMA, all housed under one MCC. This extensive campaign restructuring, that focused on store specific campaigns and included geo-targeting adjustments, help achieve our client’s goals.  In just a few months, we were able to:

• Decrease CPAs between 15-30% month over month since the account restructure.
• Allocate budget amongst all 26 DMAs with budget goals that are dependent on in-store traffic.  For example, if one market has been having slow foot traffic, then DMA budget is readjusted so that market can drive more web traffic in an effort to increase in-store traffic.
• Reduce spend 44% month over month in their most troubled DMA that was producing unqualified traffic.  This also reduced the DMA’s CPA by 54%.

An Online Marketing Case Study

Client:

A large, private university with multiple campuses across the United States.

Challenge:

Lever Interactive was hired to manage a university’s existing online advertising pay-per-click (PPC) program to generate prospective student leads. The main goal of the program was to increase the overall number of leads, with a concentration on growing lead counts and efficiency from non-branded keywords.
Often organizations rely on the efficiency and ease of brand keywords in PPC campaigns to off-set under-performing non-branded campaigns. However, it is vital for any successful PPC campaign to maintain and grow efficient non-branded campaigns because this is where more volume and untapped audiences exist.

Approach:

Lever Interactive took over the existing campaigns and performed an audit of the account’s keywords, ads, landing pages, bids and budgets. Using custom reports that provided keyword level trending data, Lever quickly identified over- and under-performing areas of the account. After a full analysis, Lever began testing new bidding strategies, landing page designs and ad extensions.

Tactics:

• Optimization of existing Google search and display network advertising and Bing/Yahoo search advertising, including but not limited to:
• Paused inefficient non-brand keywords
• Increased bidding to better compete with the industry and run ads in higher positions. Higher bids were facilitated with increased budgets following tests that proved the effectiveness of this approach
• Increased use of ad extensions, including sitelinks and call extensions
• Tested landing pages to improve conversion rates
• Launched Facebook and LinkedIn PPC advertising
• Launched direct display buys from reputable websites in the campus’ markets

Results:

Two months after taking over management of the PPC program, Lever Interactive was able to generate significant lead growth in non-brand campaigns, as well as incremental growth in brand leads. Overall efficiency of the campaigns also improved simultaneous with the lead growth.
In the first 5 months of Lever’s management:

• Overall number of leads increased 222%
• Non-brand leads increased 512%
• Brand leads increased 133%
• Cost-per-lead (brand and non-brand) decreased 44%

As a follow-up to yesterday’s blog post on Lever’s favorite new online marketing tools and features from 2011, we’ve now compiled a wish list for new features and capabilities in 2012. 

Below is a list of the 5 advancements Lever’s staff would like to see in popular online marketing tools this year. In no particular order…

1. More insights into Google AdWords’ Ad Extensions. Currently the reporting interface only gives you the more basic metrics (impressions, clicks, cost, and average position).  However, it does not provide any data on if the ad extension was clicked itself (vs. the ad), which ad extension link was clicked (i.e. across sitelinks) or if the user converted after clicking through the ad extension. While the information currently provided is helpful (and there are ways to track more details through web analytics tools), expanded reporting would be a great addition in 2012 as ad extensions become more and more a general best practice for advertisers. – Danyl H.
2. Improved ad scheduling capabilities in Microsoft AdCenter.
   AdCenter made a number of advancements in 2011 to bring its management capabilities closer to par with AdWords, but there is still a wish list for many advertisers who use the tool. One for Lever includes better ad scheduling (or day parting) capabilities. Instead of being able to specify the exact times of day you would like ads to turn on and off, AdCenter currently only provide six different time span options. If your strategy does not fit within those time windows, you are unable to customize further. – Brad B.
3. Facebook integrated conversion tracking.
   
   Facebook previously tested tracking conversions within their advertising platform, but then removed the feature, leaving advertisers to rely only on outside web analytics tools to track ROI of the advertising.  Ideally in 2012, we’ll see lead data return to Facebook and be able to view it at the various demographic and interest target levels.  This would help align Facebook more closely with major search engine capabilities. – Jamie W.
4. Affordable SEO link campaign tools. There are several SEO tools that boast an “unlimited” number of backlinking opportunities and insights with “heavy competitive analysis”.  But they all come with a hefty price.  This may be a great opportunity for enterprise companies or agencies, but for the more typical SEO agency, the costs and “unlimited” capabilities are unnecessary.  My 2012 SEO wish list includes finding a more affordable, pared down, all-in-one linking tool to help prospect potential linking partners, guest blogging opportunities and comment opportunities that are simple, clean and scalable. – Mike H.
5. AdWords apps for tablets and smart phones.
   
   Although I primarily use my iPad and smart phone for personal use, the ability to access and update Google AdWords accounts on my tablet or phone is near the top of my 2012 wish list. Currently the AdWords website usually causes iPad browsers to crash, forcing me to rely on a desktop or laptop computer (which I now rarely turn on at home thanks to the iPad).  Plus, the ability to make a campaign change on my phone or tablet while on the go will allow for easier campaign management. With the growing popularity of tablets within business (I see more and more marketers bring them to meetings) I imagine Google is working on this capability. Whether it will arrive in 2012 is yet to be seen. -Eileen B.

Those are just a few of the many possible online marketing wish list items for 2012. What advancements, big or small, do you hope to see in 2012?

As we ring in the New Year at Lever Interactive, our online marketing teams have come together to share some of their favorite advancements of online marketing tools in 2011.

The online marketing world is constantly evolving (as you know) and 2011 was no different for new technologies, features and advancements in website management, PPC advertising and SEO.  Some of our teams have compiled their favorite new features to engines, technologies and online marketing management tools in 2011.

Google Analytics

Google’s free online analytics tool made numerous updates and additions in 2011, including the roll out of a paid package, Google Premium.  One 2011 update Lever’s team highlighted as especially useful was the real-time dashboard.

The Real-Time section displays top referrals, top keywords, top active pages and top locations all in real time.  For a more in-depth overview, check out Jen’s blog post from October.

“The top locations data is the reason why this made my list because it has been very helpful with one of my retail clients.  With the client’s continued international expansion, determining new countries to target is key to the success of our campaigns.  Also, our campaigns are very sale based and rely on critical time frames.  We can instantly see if during a sale the targeted countries are trending in traffic.” – Danyl H.

For more additions to Analytics in 2011 (including mobile and social reporting, multi-channel funnels and the new Google Analytics v5 roll-out) check out Jen Davis’ 2011 Google Analytics blog posts in our archives!

Google AdWords

For many Lever staff members, a large portion of their day is spent within Google AdWords managing PPC campaigns of all shapes and sizes. Any additions to the AdWords online or desktop tool that makes our job easier or campaigns run smoother, generates excitement in the office. One favorite in 2011 was the Google AdWords Dimensions tab.

“The dimensions tab provides an easy way to pull a variety of reports, including geographic, demographic, daily and hourly reports. It’s much quicker than having to run these reports separately in the old reporting interface.” – Jamie W.

What’s your favorite dimension to pivot your AdWords data by?  I most often use the Geographic and Hour of Day dimensions. For more info on dimensions, Jeremy Decker over at Search Engine Journal recently posted a thorough review of the dimension tab to increase conversion rate.

Some other AdWords 2011 additions receiving staff mentions- Social Extensions and Google Display Network targeting by interest categories (previously in beta).

Microsoft adCenter

In late 2011, Microsoft adCenter rolled out an upgraded look to their interface along with some new reporting features. It was a refreshing change that reduced some of the more cumbersome elements of the interface and brought it closer to the functionality you may be use to in Google AdWords. For more details on the upgrade, stop by Search Engine Watch and read John Rampton’s November article.

One of the fall updates to adCenter included a staff favorite - exact match negative keywords.

“It is important to have this level of detail when closely managing large client accounts. I was happy to see adCenter take this next step toward increasing functionality and campaign management options in their system. Hopefully it continues to expand in 2012.” – Brad B.

Google Webmaster Tools

Lever Interactive’s SEO team is good at adapting to changes with the continuous updates engines make to their algorithm, so 2011 was no different than years past. With Google’s decision to begin encrypting searches of users signed in through secure connections, various SEO reporting in Google Analytics became more limited.

One feature in the new Google Analytics interface to help overcome this limitation is through synching into Google Webmaster Tools. In the v5 version of Google Analytics, when you click through Traffic Sources > Search Engine Optimization > Queries, you will see this.

Click “Set Up Webmaster Tools data sharing” and follow the steps. In a minute you’ll have your Google Webmaster data in your Google Analytics account and you can report on impressions by landing page, search queries, clicks, click through rate and even average position.

“It takes some getting used to, but it’s accurate data without guessing, and it’s a step forward toward deep keyword analysis after the push backwards. This makes it very easy to analyze and plan your search engine optimization because you can visualize organic behavior from query to conversion (or exit). This makes it a bit easier to plan content creation by page or category based on which queries are dropping visitors off on your various landing pages.” – Mike H.

 Website Design & Development

We’re wrapping up our list of favorite 2011 online marketing management advancements with our web design team! Although not a new idea, with the rapid expansion of mobile and tablet websites in 2011, the expanded capabilities and use of responsive website layouts is an exciting area of growth in the industry Lever’s design team looks forward to using in 2012. Responsive layouts, formally called fluid layouts, adjust design and images based on the size of your browser window, to provide improved and more customized experiences for the visitor.

“These elements were great in 2011 for mobile websites because the flexible layout will reposition the content as necessary and the flexible images will resize on the fly without reducing the quality. These features help mobile sites look consistent across many mobile devices.” – Jonathan S.

An example of a responsive layout is http://css-tricks.com – open the page and play around with the size of your browser to see the changes in the site.

***

What are your favorite additions to online marketing tools last year?

Stay tuned for our blog post tomorrow for our staff’s resolutions and wish lists for online marketing advancements in 2012!

For our retail clients, and probably many of yours, November and December are often the busiest months of year for online advertising.  According to comScore, U.S. consumers have already spent upwards of $9.87 billion with online retailers this season, which is 14% more than last year.

This season we’ve seen very profitable days for our clients since the big Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping pushes.  As we enter the final pre-holiday shopping stretch, here are some best practices and tips our retail teams put together to help you through the busy season!

• This is definitely not a time to “set it and forget it.” The key to a successful holiday advertising campaign is preparation, planning and flexibility.

• Use sale ad copy to spark interest amongst the tough competition on the search page.
  • Compelling and accurate offers will win over the potential buyer
  • As always, be sure to pick the most relevant landing page for your ads.  This is especially important during the holidays as online shoppers are searching to find what they are looking for fast.
  • Include shipping deadlines within your ad copy to create a strong sense of urgency with the buyer.  Additionally, make sure that the shipping deadlines pertain to the area in which you’re targeting.  For example, don’t serve the same shipping messages to both domestic and international campaigns as those deadlines vary.

• Increase remarketing efforts.
  • Be sure to have remarketing pixels in place on your website well before the holiday season to capture a base of non-purchasing site visitors.
  • On the Google Display Network, advertisers can target previous purchasers and non-purchasers alike using both banner ads and text ads in an attempt to woo buyers back.
  • These folks were interested enough in your product the first time around; remarketing will bring them back when you are presenting your most enticing sales.
• Maintain strong spend and expand keyword coverage.
  • Take advantage of bidding on keywords that revolve around “store hours” and “coupons/coupon codes” as these terms are popular during the season.
  • Returns are usually much greater during the holidays for advertisers so don’t be afraid to open up spend to make sure that all of your bases are covered.
• Monitor ad positions and increase keyword bids to combat competition.
  • Keywords become more expensive around the holiday season due to increased traffic and competition.  Therefore, it is important to routinely monitor your ad position to make sure that ads have not fallen below the desired position.
  • Setting up an automated rule through Google will allow you to bid to a desired position. It is a quick and easy way to ensure you are not losing out on traffic to your competitors and affords you more time to focus on other holiday sale initiatives.
• Maximize your mobile presence.
  • According to Google, mobile queries have spiked the week before Christmas over the past 2 years.  Whether you are an online retailer or brick-and-mortar, make sure that your campaigns are a) targeting mobile devices and b) utilizing ads enhanced for mobile.
  • Break out separate campaigns that target mobile devices so that you can gain better insight into reporting and use different ad messages for mobile users.  You can even offer exclusive discounts for mobile users.
  • Most importantly, make sure your site is mobile friendly!

• Don’t shut down after pre-holiday sales.
  • A recent report by Google shows that shoppers usually have 25% of their shopping left to complete by mid-December.
  • Shoppers will be looking to take advantage of post-holiday (after December 25^th) sales and redeem those gift cards they received in their stockings.

If you plan ahead and use some of these best practices for your holiday PPC campaigns, hopefully it will not only be the busiest time of year, but can also be the most wonderful time of year for your clients!

Announced this week, Google AdWords has a quick way to view campaign, ad group or keyword performance by ad slot position, top vs. side. Reports have shown that ads shown above natural search results tend to receive more clicks than ads that show on the right-hand section.

I can certainly understand the rationale behind this, but it led me to more questions than answers. However, let’s first take a look at the report, as well as how to access it:

Accessing the report is easy. In a campaign, ad group or keyword view, select the “Segment” button and select “Top vs. Side.”

As mentioned, the report raised a couple of questions. As an example, I looked at a keyword that reported an average position of 1.8 on top, and 4.7 on the side. It made me wonder, when it appeared on the side, was that position 4.7 like the example below, where the first three ads are at the top and position four starts at the top of the side:

Or is it like this example, where there are no ads in the top area and ads only appear on the side:

There is a significant difference in placement between a position 4, with three other ads on top vs. position 4 when no ads exist at the top.

Another keyword I looked reported an average position of 2 in both the top and side slots. The ad received more clicks when in the top slot vs. the side, even though the ad on the side received more impressions. Again, I have the problem mentioned above, but I also have another issue. How do I get my ad in position 2 at the top? If there is one competitor in position 1 at the top, obviously outbidding them will get me to the top, but what if the one competitor in the top position is also shown on the side? What then? Again I can outbid the competitor, but that does not necessarily get my ad to show at the top of natural search results.

Overall, the report provides an interesting view, but I find it hard to act on it without more data that does not seem to be available.

This week Google Product Search announced upcoming changes to their feed format and policies.  Changes will go into effect on September 22, 2011.

Although there are changes to feed specifications for several countries, we will outline the changes to feeds targeting the United States.

• Availability - This will now be required for all items. There are four acceptable values:
• in stock
• available for order
• out of stock
• preorder
• Google Product Category – A product category, matching Google’s taxonomy, is now required for items listed in the following categories (it is still highly recommended for other categories):
• Apparel and Accessories
• Media
• Software
• Images – Items will be required to list an image URL.  Images must be at least 250 x 250 pixels but images of 400 x 400 pixels are recommended.

• Apparel – Products within the apparel with multiple variations (i.e. color or size) must have the variations listed in the feed. In addition, gender and age group are also required for these products.

• Data Freshness – Not a change, but a reminder, feeds must be updated every 30 days, and Google will regularly check information for accuracy. 

Google Product Search is an effective and FREE channel to market products available on your website. In addition, Google has expanded the use of product feeds through their integration into AdWords with product listing ads, and the plus box listings.

For current clients, Lever Interactive is already optimizing your feeds with this information, as it is part of our best practices.  If you have any questions, or would like further information, please contact your Account Strategist for assistance.

If you are not using Google Product Search to market your products, contact us for help today.

One of the basics of Search Engine Optimization is builidng links to your web site.  The more reputable links seen by the search engines can correlate to a higher ranking.  Yes, there are things to consider when evaluating a link exchange request; relevancy, the reputation of the other web site, etc.  But, when your customers, users, or re-sellers want to simply place a link to your web site from their own web site, and they are not asking for a recipricol link, why are so many major corporations still requiring “permission” to do so?

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Stickiness is anything about a web site that encourages a user to visit often and stay longer.  Stickiness examples are:

• Content that is updated frequently and provides ongoing assistance or relevancy to the user (e.g. tips, blog entries)
• User ability to personalize the site to suite their needs (e.g. iGoogle, My Yahoo)
• Online communities/forums
• User feedback (e.g. product reviews, ratings, surveys)

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Isn’t it amazing that we are already at the July 4^th holiday? Where does the time go? Probably spent getting ready for your July 4^th holiday weekend clearance sale, right? In your preparation, did you update your paid search campaign to target “sale” keywords, or write new ad text highlighting your sale?

It is a common mistake among online retailers. You placed a huge message advertising the sale on your home page, key landing pages and your order confirmation page. You sent out a special sale message to your email marketing campaign list. However, you forget to update your paid search to let the rest of the online world know you are having a sale.

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