kevin lee, [email protected] 1-800-601-4181 © 2005 did-it.com maximizing roi from search engine...

Kevin Lee, [email protected] 1-800-601-4181 © 2005 Did-it.com

Maximizing ROI from Search Engine Marketing- Are You Keeping Up?

Presented byKevin LeeExecutive Chairman, Co-Founder, Did-it.com, LLC.


What do people search for, a bit of fun…

Yahoo and Google list the top searches

• Yahoo Buzz Index

• Google Zeitgeist.

What was the #1 search in Google for Jan, 2005?


What do people search for, Google Jan

What do you the #1 Google search for January?

1. Tsunami Winner?

2. Britney spears

3. Paris Hilton

4. Christina Aguilera

5. Pamela Anderson


What is Did-it

Jupiter Research Ratings of SEM’s based on Business Value & Market Suitability.


What is Did-it

Jupiter Research Ratings of SEM’s based on Business Value & Market Suitability.

Did-it.com. Founded as an organic optimization firm but now focused entirely on paid listings, Did-it.com received the second highest client satisfaction rating of any agency evaluated and the highest score for market suitability. Did-it.com’s willingness to customize its Maestro tool for large marketers has helped it attract a top-notch client list, and allowed it to private-label its technology for many conventional agencies.


Who is Kevin Lee

Kevin Lee, Did-it.com Co-Founder & Executive Chairman is an acknowledged search engine marketing expert. Kevin has translated his search expertise into proven PPC search success strategies and Did-it’s proprietary Maestro search campaign technology. The technology and strategies combine to give clients of Did-it a dramatic advantage in the paid search marketplace. Kevin’s weekly column for JupiterMedia's ClickZ is read by thousands as are his contributions to Catalog Age Magazine and DMNews.

Kevin is a founding board member and the current Chairman of SEMPO, and also serves on the Search Council for the Association for Interactive Marketing and the IAB Search Committee. Kevin is regularly quoted by the news media including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, the New York Times, CNET, USA Today, and the San Jose Mercury News.


The Power of Search Marketing

• Voluntary, audience-driven search.

• Seeking information

• Searchers have selected your listing from among competitors.

• “Hunt mode” not simply browsing around the web.

• Openness to persuasion and ideas

• Unique type of media can drive profits


Search Engine Landscape: Market Share of the Portals

How you measure market share determines results

The winners are clear, Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL.


The Searcher Experience ReviewedIn Google, the top paid or organic results get lots of

attention. Did-it.com/Enquiro/Eyetools Eyetracking Study February, 2005


Why SEM/SEO Strategy Matters:

SEM and SEO are a zero-sum game.

Only one marketer gets the maximum value. The system is Darwinian.

You need to be there early or drive your brand into the consideration set before the decision has been made.

No single strategy will work for every marketer.

What’s your strategy?


Why Paid Search Strategy Matters:

At every instant throughout every day each bid can only be:

• Too High (wasting money)

• Too Low (missing opportunities for high ROI)

• Just Right (perfect bid)

It’s not just about bids or measurement. Killer campaigns are planned & executed, then tuned right from the start


PPC Auctions, Two Types at the TOP:

There are only two kinds of marketers at the top of the PPC search results:

• Brilliant Marketers

• Total Idiots

The key to successful paid search marketing is to figure out how to either:

a) Be the brilliant marketer that can afford a top position

b) Deal effectively with the total idiots


How can you afford to be at the Top?

• Increased conversion from click to lead or sale

a) better landing pages

b) better targeting

c) offer testing

• Increased conversion from impression to click on high ROI terms, creative testing.


PPC Budget Strategies

• Pure Direct Marketer: Search budget is “Carte Blanche”

• Fixed Budget Marketer

• Cross Media or Hybrid Marketing Budget

Unpredictable nature of search inventory or competitive activity makes budgeting difficult without monitoring and automation.


Best Practices: Go Broad, Go Niche, Go Local:

35-45% of searches three words or longer

a) Inventory tool at Overture (root word)

b) Google keyword tool (includes synonyms, phrases and related terms)

c) Wordtracker.com

d) Did-it.com’s keyword suggestion tool

e) HitWise, ComScore, Neilsen NetRatings (custom solutions)


SEM Ad Strategy: Target Markets

Do you have more than one target market?

• New Customer

• Returning Customer, Heavy Customer

• Purchasing Department

• Influencers (engineers, children)

• The Press (general or trade press)

• The Investment Community, Analysts

• Researchers and Academia


Plan SEM Campaigns based on constituency

1. Not everyone uses same search words2. Do you position your site or service

differently for different users? 3. What landing pages have you built for

your niche targets?4. Can your niche sites generate user based

content?5. Returning shoppers, customers or

members?6. Do you keep long-term cookies?7. Press, Analysts, Investors


Adjusting Campaigns

Change and test everything over time in a structured experimental model

• Testing keywords, engines

• Testing creative titles and descriptions

• Testing landing pages, offers

• Testing pricing

• System for testing position

• Testing marketplace elasticity


Blended Success Metrics

Blended success metrics can be more accurate for profit maximization:

• Immediate Order (ecommerce)

• Lagged Order

• Multi-channel retailer store lookup

• Phone order

• Brand related metric


SEM and the Buying Cycle

DoubleClick comScore study:The number of searches leading up to the purchase varied by category. Buyers on sports/fitness sites conducted 2.5 relevant searches; apparel buyers made 4.7 relevant searches; computer hardware buyers, 4.9, and travel buyers averaged six relevant searches in the 12 weeks before their transaction.



Overture comScore study:The study of consumer electronics shoppers found that “83.3% of CE/C shoppers initiate their research with a broad term, suggesting the Web is a key resource early in the buy cycle.”

If you believe that exposure and branding are important then consider this study when looking at immediate conversion data.



Campaign Goals and Objectives should line up with the profile of the searcher.

While longer phrases tend to be further down the cycle, short ones may be as well, brands, products, etc.


Strategic Tuning:

Do you want to?

• Jump in at final stage keywords only

• Work on building momentum throughout the buying cycle

• Take into account offline purchase behavior

• Consider a “branding effect” when buying keywords


Better Creative: Titles and Descriptions

1. Different strategies for different engines2. Editorial guidelines are different3. Types of searcher are different4. Length of title different5. Description length different6. Placement on page differs7. Fonts may change8. Truncation may occur9. Domain name many not be visible


Creative Strategies: Overture

In Overture, you have more copy and don’t get penalized for a less compelling listing (unless it has a significantly lower click index than its “neighbor listings”.) Some copy changes may work better during seasonal time periods. Keywords in creative can help.


Creative Strategies: Google

In Google, your ad must be compelling CTR (normalized CTR) times MaxBid = AdRank:

• Ability to run multiple creative simultaneously as seasons change

• The Brand Effect and “Brand Discount”

• Bolding of keywords (break up AdGroups)

• Match types and the AdWords effect

• Referrer data for broad refinement


Creative Strategies: Google #2

Better technologies help you blow out broad keywords:

• Creative Optimization (more compelling)

• Breaking out the top broad matches and writing the tuned ads is KILLER

Example: Keyword “discount vacation” on broad match will deliver a basket of keyword traffic. Which of those deserve a separate AdGroup or landing page?


Insertion Orders and Budget Caps:

DO NOT Set Budget Caps too low:

a) Google or the Overture will kill high ROI

b) Take control through technology

c) Cut back on poor ROI terms

d) Inventory predictions are usually wrong

1) Assumed CTRs

2) Assumed search volume

3) Assumed levels of competition


Track AND Optimize at the keyword level:

Over emphasis on tracking is like driving a car by looking in the rear view mirror:

a) Track at the keyword level

b) Act at the KW level, tune campaigns

c) Right level of attention

1) Competition and Volatility

2) Upside Potential

3) Potential for Waste


Averages will kill a campaign & your business:

Using historical averages have little bearing on the current marketplace:

a) Look at directional trends

b) Drill down by time of day, day of week

c) Fine tune a campaign

Don’t let a portfolio approach hide listings that are actually un-profitable but look profitable when averages are used.


Profit Maximization

To maximize profit, you must:

1) Buy the best clicks first

2) Keep buying clicks until you maximize profits

3) Take into account offline media and PR

4) Build a simple media model for your online media


Profit Maximization Elasticity Modeling:

With Overture and Google, you trade off incremental profit for order volume. Total profit is more important:

Option #1: 10,000 clicks at $.50 CPC = $5000

$1000 Total Profit.

Option #2: 50,000 clicks at $.53 CPC = $26500

$3500 Total Profit.


Creative Strategies: Landing Pages

Test landing pages as a lift in conversion

• Ambiguous listings have multiple good landing pages. Which one works best?

• Change the offer

• Change image, navigation choices, merchandising, copy length, headline

Small lift in landing page conversion is a huge lift in efficiency. The multiplier effect works both ways.


Function lift & Accumulated lift

0

10%15%

20%

10%5%

10%15%

20%100% 110%127%

152%167% 175%

193%222%

266%

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%Function lift

Accumulatedlift

A variety of paid search strategies combine to grow profits


Conclusion:

Paid Search Marketing is a win lose game.

Your competition are going to engage in SEM or SEO, and probably are already doing so.

Search is part of an integrated marketing plan because of how it fits into the buying cycle.

Questions? e-mail Kevin Lee, Executive Chairman, Did-it.com. [email protected]

kevin lee, [email protected] 1-800-601-4181 © 2005 did-it.com maximizing roi from search engine...

Documents

google search

search expertise

search council

paid search marketplace

ppc search results

paid search strategy

iab search committee

audiencedriven search