Offering a number of vendors to choose from, Tealium is working to make vendor integration a much easier task for their clients, and the results are positive:

“Tealium makes the complex simple, by giving us complete control over our tag implementations,” said Jeremy Hermanns, vice president of performance marketing for Onestop Internet, which runs the e-commerce operations for several major apparel retailers, including Nicole Miller, Hudson Jeans, Reef and many more. “We can add any vendor in minutes, and then easily manage those tags on our own without requiring IT assistance. Tealium has saved us hundreds of man hours by simplifying the entire tag management process.”

In case you are unaware, tags are, in relation to Tealium’s service, snippets of code that identify a particular vendor, and their tag management service makes integrating these tags much, much easier:

“The speed at which Tealium was able to implement us put us in a wonderful position with the client,” said Charlie Holbech, co-founder of Visual Revenue, which provides predictive analytics solutions for the online media publications. “Tag management solutions are playing an increasingly important role in the digital marketing industry. We are pleased to integrate so quickly with one of the best.”

Seeing how web marketing is incredibly competitive, having advantages like those provided by Tealium’s tag management helps streamline the process, saving web marketers both time and money. Considering the list of responsibilities web marketers face, especially on an
enterprise level, access to tools that ease the process will only makes such marketing projects easier to accomplish.

It’s no wonder that mobile ad spending worldwide is predicted to top out at $3.3 billion by the end of 2011 and jump to $20.6 billion by 2015. Much of the advertising will be driven by search ads and local ads.

Given those statistics one can’t ignore the opportunity to tap that ‘connected’ community through mobile marketing. I’ve put together some of the trends we have seen and might seen in the coming year when it comes to this channel of opportunity.

Trend 1: Ad spending to reach the mobile segments will continue to rise. Google will likely continue to be the leader in ad revenue but look for other opportunities to present themselves with time. Bing could take a bigger share of the advertising pie as well with more and more search apps that use Bing being installed on phones and devices.

Trend 2: For the time being, M-Commerce (or mobile ecommerce) has been primarily an extension of a brands current online store. Look for this trend to shift a bit as it becomes even easier to make purchases through even more mobile friendly site versions (and possibly the use of ‘mobile only offers’.)

We are already starting to see bar code scanner apps evolve to not only provide additional ‘shopping related’ information (such as price, distance to store etc…) about those items scanned, but now beginning to include “buy it now” or “add to cart” functionality on the spot (this has just happend with a recent app Amazon has launched.)

Scan it, compare it, buy it at the best price, and pick it up at the store.

Trend 3: Look for those bar scanner type apps to evolve even further in the coming year. This could result in some very healthy competition among retailers not to mention the possible greater risk for losing a customer to a competitor that physically walked into your store first.

Imagine this. You walk into a local store, find the item you wanted, scan it with your smart phone bar code reader, find the same product less than a mile away at another store … and for a better price. You buy it by clicking a button on your mobile phone and entering your payment information. The store puts the item on hold for you to pickup. What happens next? You leave the store you originally walked into only to end up at their competitor down the road with the item in hand.

How’s that for ‘shopping cart abandonment’?

Expect to see this trend offset with more and more ‘price match guarantees’. Find it somewhere else and we’ll match or beat the price on the spot.

Trend 4: Location based mobile marketing gains steam. Imagine being able to automatically market to a potential consumer that is in the area (but not directly inside) of your brick and mortar store. It’s not only a reality to some degree, but is a primary driver of what occurs with apps such as Foursquare, and Facebook Places. Take it a step further and consider this. A potential customer performs a search from their mobile device for a product that you offer.

In return they get a listing of stores directly near them who have that very product in stock. The advertising is based on GPS position of the potential customer in relation to the location of your store at a specific in time (much like ‘checking in at a specific location’ using some of the social apps that have grown in popularity.)

Like the above trend, this type of search ability should grow and if you don’t take advantage of mobile marketing based on location, you’ll be left out only to see your competitors (who take advantage of it) see the rewards.

Trend 5: Consumers expect accessibility on all levels. We now live in a world where consumers no longer rely on a desktop computer (or even a laptop) to access the internet. It is becoming second nature (although still in its infancy) to browse the internet using mobile devices-and in the near future, it is said that accessing the internet via mobile devices will surpass accessing it using any other method.

Determining which way to go-a mobile app or simply a website that is ‘mobile friendly’-will be the real issue. But you must make your business accessible on all levels if you are going to compete in this day and age.

Trend 6: Smart phone users are on the rise and were projected to reach 73.3 million by the end of 2011. At that rate, the smart phone owners will account for approximately 23% of the mobile user population. It is estimated that by 2015 they could very well represent 43% or more. As a comparison, in 2010 smart phones accounted for 21.8 of all handsets shipped worldwide.

Look for potential customers to become more engaged in 2012 as the smart phone segment continues to grow. They are going to expect better, more intuitive mobile versions of websites that allow them to easily shop and find the items they seek.

Trend 7: Social networking continues its dominance among mobile users. More and more users are frequenting social networking apps such as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.

In fact, a 2010 Keynote / Adobe survey of mobile users asked them what their favorite mobile activity was and approximately 76% of respondents listed Social Networking (second only to maps and directions.)

Nielsen listed mobile social networking is the fastest-growing consumer mobile app category in 2010 and that trend continues in 2011. Many of these social networking sites are becoming portals for users accessing the internet (much like search engines were when they arrived on the scene with the advent of the internet.) Mass amounts of messaging and e-mail traffic, videos, photos, games and commerce are exchanged with each minute using these tools.

If not already doing so, marketers need to begin to think about reaching out to this channel, increasing their exposure time at every possible opportunity.

Trend 8: Optimizing websites for mobile platforms is a reality. No longer is it good enough to consider a ‘well optimized’ (non-mobile site version) the end all, be all. With the demands mobile is presenting to everyone, consideration needs to be given to continual optimization of a mobile site that aims for increases to speed, image rendering and again, accessibility. As was with the ‘desktop only’ site versions of what seems now long ago, on site usability and traditional search engine optimization rules should apply.

What mobile has in store for us in the coming year is anyone’s guess. It is clear however that it’s shaping up for staggering-possible record breaking-growth once again that simply can’t be ignored if you are to stay competitive.

The 2011 Viral Video Chart as well as the Mashable Global Ads Chart have been powered by Unruly. The winner of the most viral video ad was picked on the basis of the number of shares on Twitter, Facebook, and the blogosphere. And not on the number of views. Viral factor is determined by the number of shares and not views.

Volkswagen’s record-breaking mini Darth Vader ad, The Force, came on top, by having a huge 4.71 million social media shares in its name. There were 46.05 million views since its release on February 2, and still counting!

The is the complete list of 2011’s most shared video ads:

1. Volkswagen: The Force: Volkswagen Commercial – 4,713,179 shares.
2. DC Shoes: Ken Block’s Gymkhana Four; The Hollywood Megamercial – 2,028,238 shares.
3. T-Mobile: Angry Birds Live – 1,783,607 shares.
4. T-Mobile: Royal Wedding – 1,733,419 shares.
5. Kia: Party Rock Anthem-Kia Soul Hamster Commercial – 1,424,110 shares.
6. Ape With Ak-47 – 1,132,201 shares.
7. David Cornfield Melanoma Fund: Dear 16 Year Old Me – 1,072,004 shares.
8. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Reveal Trailer – 1,062,829 shares.
9. Nissan: Poneis Malditos – 956,661 shares.
10. Nestle: Contrex – Ma Contrexperience – 97s – 950,988 shares.
11. Official Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – The Vet Vs The Noob – 922,218 shares.
12. Carlsberg Stunt with Bikers in Cinema – 899,550 shares.
13. Official Ojai Valley Taxidermy TV Commercial – 830,036 shares.
14. Red Bull: The Art of FLIGHT – Snowboarding film trailer featuring Travis Rice – 810,453 shares.
15. McDonald’s Philippines New Commercial 2011 “BFGF” – 756,141 shares.
16. Channel 4: Danny MacAskill – Industrial Revolutions – 696,190 shares.
17. Trace Urban: The most amazing beat box video ever! – 687,528 shares.
18. Pepsi: Unbelievable David Beckham – 543,812 shares.
19. Samsung: Unleash Your Fingers – 542,851 shares.
20. Westfield Stratford City: 100 YEARS / STYLE / EAST LONDON – 529,832 shares.

This list is a proof that brand promoters are already capitalizing on the viral potential of the social web and have recognized a video’s potential for brand advocacy!

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Follow my logic for a moment. For any brand to be successful using QR codes,  your customers would need to follow a few steps. 1) They would need to understand what a QR code is and how it works (see 30 percent number). 2) They would need to have a smartphone AND a QR code scanner on their phones (numbers of smart phone users have recently been identified around 50 percent–those with QR code readers is most likely a smaller percentage). 3) They would need to see the QR code AND be compelled enough to take 1-3 minutes to scan it and consume the content you’re driving them to. 4) Your content would need to be compelling enough to get them to take action–the ultimate end goal.

I might argue that’s an awfully damn tall order to get a customer to do steps 1-4 as outlined above. A DAMN tall order.

And that thinking is partially what drove my little experiment on Black Friday at the Mall of America.

You see, we’ve seen a number of examples of brands using the codes in their marketing efforts–so we know what the brands are thinking/hoping to achieve. But, what we haven’t seen a lot of is the user experience side of this equation and what that really looks like and means for brand awareness, loyalty and ultimately, purchase.

So, I took a page out of Tom Webster’s book and did my own work–a lesson he extolled at BlogWorld LA a few weeks ago.

My goal was simple: To look at the user experience side of QR codes on the biggest shopping day of the year (Black Friday) at the biggest mall in the U.S. (the Mall of America) and analyze the results and lay out some key learnings and lessons for brands considering using QR codes.

I looked at two key areas: Creativity and Execution. For the purposes of this experiment, I just looked at in-store signage at the Mall, even though I’m fully aware there are other executions that include QR codes (print advertising, for example). Just needed some focus.

I reviewed 9 brands at the Mall, plus the Mall of America itself since they were organizing a unique event centered around QR codes (more on that in a post later this week). And, I attempted to grade each brand, just so we could prioritize and put a bit of a “curve” around this experiment (as unscientific as that is).

Let’s get to it.

Sketchers

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: No huge points for creativity here, but the code is part of a branded campaign on the Sketchers store-front.

Execution: First, the video the code links to is three-plus minutes. I don’t want to watch a three-minute video at home on my laptop, let alone on my mobile device. That’s just way too long. The video discusses the concept of “minimal shoes” and Sketchers take on that and their proprietary technology. Interesting stuff, but again, not worth three minutes of my time while I’m standing in front of your store.

Grade: B-

Old Navy

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: Unique execution here, using QR codes as part of a larger holiday recruiting campaign for Old Navy. The signage was clear and easy to understand, and the QR code fit nicely into that package.

Execution: The scan took you directly to the Gap.com recruiting page, which featured corporate, design, warehouse and store positions. Pretty straightforward. The only thing I would have done differently here would be to direct people to a specific landing page with store-only positions. After all, that’s what they were seeking–why mess around with the corporate and design jobs, which fell right at the top of the page?

Grade: B+

Lane Bryant

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: Lane Bryant certainly isn’t the first brand to drive QR code scanners to a YouTube video. And they definitely aren’t the first to drive people to a “behind-the-scenes” video. Not many points for creativity here in my view.

Execution: The video is well done, and it’s short (under a minute). So, that piece works. But, the video doesn’t solve my problem, give me a deal/coupon or provide me other information I don’t already have. It’s merely a standard behind-the-scenes video starring some relatively attractive women without tops on (that was clearly their attention-getter).

Grade: C

Macys

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: Admittedly, this sign was part of a promotion Macy’s unveiled a while ago. I was excited to see this in-store, but could only find a handful of these signs around. I’m guessing this “campaign” was over–yet, they still had the signs in store (foreshadowing alert!).

Execution: Anytime the folks scanning QR codes are taken to a landing page with the words “404–File Not Found”, well, that’s not a good thing. In fact, I think that qualifies as an unmitigated failure. I know the campaign is over, so why not take the signs down completely? More of an operations issue than anything, but part of a larger lesson for Macy’s.

Grade: F (I can’t not give them an F here–not trying to be harsh)

Columbia

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: The QR code on the Columbia store-front includes no mention of what to expect when I scan the code. No accompanying signage. Not any kid of explantation around what it is even, for the uninitiated.

Execution: The video’s actually not half-bad. It talks about a “body heat management system” (that’s too good to make up, folks) named “Omni Heat.” The video explains what Omni Heat is, and even includes a nice graphic that lays it all out. The rest of the video features young people engaging in outdoor activities (skiing, tubing), wearing Columbia gear with this Omni Heat layered in. Nothing unique here–but a nice explanation of the technology.

Grade: C-

Ultra Diamonds

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: Not much creativity here–in the signage or the landing page. The signage does tell me I can expect a deal, but not much more.

Execution: Classic case of not planning for the execution. As you can see above, after I scanned the code, I was directed to a site that is clearly not optimized for mobile use. I can’t see the offers. I can’t even tell what site I’m on. If you’re going to take all the time to direct me to a site where I’m guessing I can actually buy your products, you better be damn sure it’s optimized for a mobile device to I can buy said product on my phone.

Grade: D

Roxy

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: The signage is clear, easy to understand and tells me exactly what I’m going to get when I scan the code. The idea behind the program is fairly straight-forward for a social program. Asking you to tell Roxy why you and your “BFF” deserve to win and encouraging you to get the word out. But, it was the only such program I saw affiliated with a QR code while at the Mall.

Execution: Here’s the thing with this idea–it’s just too hard and takes too much time for someone who just scanned the code standing outside your store-front. I mean, I like the idea. But, to ask someone to not only scan the code, but THEN to also fill out their name, email address, zip code, date of birth, and tell a story about why you and your BFF deserve to win (in less than 250 characters) is almost unrealistic. I’d be curious to know how many people have actually done this. I just think that’s a lot to ask of someone who’s standing outside your store on their phone.

Grade: C+

American Eagle

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: No huge creativity point here. Just a straight-forward way to get customers to download the AE app for exclusive deals and content.

Execution: Not all that sexy, but I like this approach. I like that they tell customers exactly what they’ll get when they scan the code (the AE app). I like that the landing page tells you exactly what the app will deliver, including a bulleted list of all the relevant features. And, I really like the app itself (and I’m not even a AE shopper). It offers a rewards program, a “style mixer” program, mobile-only offers and it even offered me 20% off my first app purchase.

Grade: A-

SuperDry

What I scanned:

Screen grab:

Creativity: The in-store signage is great, but it’s all about Facebook. The code is buried in the Facebook messaging. Now, that may be their point. Maybe they’re just using the code to direct people to their Facebook page. As you can see from the landing page, that doesn’t come across in the execution.

Execution: The landing page I was sent to was clean, easy to navigate and laid out very well for a mobile device. But, it doesn’t align with the signage and my initial point of contact. If they want people to “like” them on Facebook, why not just direct people straight to their Facebook page? Or, a landing page with a link to the Facebook page? Bit of a disconnect for me here, even though the landing page was well done technically.

Grade: C

The winners

American Eagle (using QR codes to get people to sign up for the AE app, which encourages e-commerce and loyalty)

Old Navy (using QR codes as part of a larger holiday recruiting strategy)

The losers

Macy’s (scan took me to a dead page)

Ultra Diamonds (scan took me to a site that wasn’t optimized for mobile devices)

Key lessons

* Make sure the site you’re driving customers to is optimized for mobile use. If it’s not, you’re wasting your time–and, more importantly, your customers.

* Think about the action you’re asking customers to take. Think about QR codes just like any other marketing tactic. What do you want people to do as a result of the effort? What’ the call to action? Is it clear? Is it easy to understand? Is it compelling?

* Make sure you set expectations clearly. Since there is such a lack of understanding around these codes, expectations must be crystal clear. I can’t over-emphasize this enough. Tell me what I’m going to get before I get it. And, then deliver. Make damn sure you deliever.

* Keep it simple. REALLY simple. Don’t get too cute with your QR code campaign. Instead, keep it straight-forward (see setting expectations above). The technology is complex enough–don’t ask your customers to do too much.

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Why Is Google Doing This?

This move by Google is another step in its plan to integrate its various services with Google+. Larry Page had reaffirmed the same in September this year. Now, this new feature called Social Extensions integrates Google+ pages and AdWords campaign, and is aimed at helping the advertisers better. According to Google, the thought behind this tool is, “integrating your social marketing effort by letting you share +1’s between your AdWords campaigns and your Google+ Page.”

How Will You Benefit?

Google believes that this move will help the advertisers to “build a larger collection of social recommendations”. This will be possible because all +1s between the ads and the Google+ Page will have a huge social impact on people as they will reflect social annotations. This will act as an encouragement for the users to click the ad or explore your Google+ page.

What You Need To Benefit From The New Feature?

This Ad integration feature will be available to you only if you create and verify your Google+ page. You can connect your AdWords campaign and your Google+ page quite simply via the AdWords account. See the guide for more. To know how to create a Google+ page, see this.

Since the launch of Google+ Pages they have received mixed reviews, some have declared them with significant potential while others do not seem very enthusiastic about the same.

What do you think of Google+ for business potential? Do share your views.

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Another big change I noticed was that the new adCenter interface provides four different total rows including, the search total, content total, deleted items total, and the overall campaigns total. On the old version, users could only see the overall campaigns total. It is extremely helpful for users to be able see the performance metrics separated between the search and content network because both networks are very different from each other and therefore should be managed differently. It is nice to get a quick summary of performance metric totals for each network on the main interface.

Also the new version of adCenter incorporates campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords tabs that allow users to quickly view different sections of the account. In the old version, users were 3 clicks away from viewing ad copy and could only view ad copy for one ad group at a time. These are just a few basic, but really exciting changes, especially for those that are in adCenter every day. The new adCenter updates will save you an immense amount of time when completing daily account management tasks in the interface.

You will notice that the adCenter interface is slowly beginning to look a lot like the Google AdWords interface and becoming more user friendly.  

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Foxx also said that Google will soon be rolling out a marketing campaign that will include both internet and print advertising.

Since most of the searches these days are mobile and location based, location-based search ads can help searchers find what they are looking for and Google hopes the circular ads will help even further as they can be personalized by location and query. As soon as the users click on the search or display ads they will see large, multiple pictures in a pop-up screen.

For example, if you’re in New York looking for a camera on sale, a search of Google will provide an ad which when clicked will link through to Best Buy’s weekly ad and you will see an ad designed especially for you. Since your location is known and search query is known, the most relevant products are displayed front and center in response to your search.

Noticing that search advertising is rapidly evolving with the aid of videos, images and visually appealing text, Google has been using newer ad formats from the beginning of the year, so this leap into circular ads is a natural progression.

One feature of the circular ads that is sure to attract offline and online advertisers is that it will supports desktop, mobile and tablet devices. However the big question that remains is will this modern, full-page online advertising strategy work wonders for the traditional offline retailers? I guess we will wait and see.

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Many industry professionals feared consumers would find September 11th tribute ads to be tasteless and exploitative. However, this wasn’t actually the case.

Keith Levy of Forbes Magazine is quoted as saying

“Emotion is a good thing! 9/11 was, and always will be a day filled with emotion. Tapping into that emotion in a tasteful yet powerful way is a risk worth taking but only if you truly believe in your brand’s ability to deliver this. I applaud the tasteful way these companies chose to create and display their messaging. Tribute or tasteless? Clearly a tribute in my eyes.”

And the consumers seem to agree. Beyond this, the stresses of this economic period made food ads another fan favorite for this quarter, filling four of the Top 10 spots for Q3.

Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix states “It is well documented that people crave food during stressful economic periods.”

His claim is supported by the effectiveness of Sonic’s “Man Has Food Fantasy” ad, which scored a 657 on the Ace scale, 79 points higher than the average fast food score. Bisquick, Subway and Red Lobster also made the list, indicating “a lack of consistency in consumer appetites—and a great opportunity for food advertisers in an economy that shows little sign of improvement” according to Daboll.

Below is the entire list, which also includes ads by Nissan, MasterCard, Mercedes and Clorox

Most Effective TV Ads of Q3 2011*

Andrew Goodman started off the session by discussing what has changed in paid search:

1. Quality Score & Auction

• AdRank = Bid x QS
• Quality Score history does matter (for the keyword and the relationship that the keyword has with the ad its showing)
• Quality Score is calculated on the fly for every query
• 7 is an aggregate score for the keyword, it’s not the same in every instance
• QS determines both eligibility and position
• The QS is different from the display network
• Landing page and website quality can have an effect on relevancy and the CTR, which directly affects the Quality Score.
• 3/10 (useful stat?) – you can make money with a low quality score so don’t pause the keyword.
• A quality score of 7 is normal
• 3s are useful information, but no need to panic!
• Account best practices come first, use QS as feedback
• Use QS to understand keyword intent
• Ads with the highest CTR (that will bump up your QS) are not always the ones that convert the best. Going on CTR alone is a big mistake.

2. Remarketing

• Use Google Audiences as a way to reach out to someone who has already left your site
• Interest Categories – behavioral targeting (will use Google + and uses Facebook categories) made possible by Google acquiring DoubleClick.

3. Bid Simulator Tool

• Google suggests what you should be paying for a keyword to maximize traffic, but sometimes if you bid what Google suggests you may get too many untargeted clicks. The increase in traffic may actually result in a loss of money if conversions do not positively correlate with the traffic volume.

4. AdWords Campaign Experiments

• You may test increased bids and test the results – may see a higher CTR but not higher conversions

George Michie discussed some best practice of Product Listing Ads & Extensions and why marketers should use them.

1. Product Listing Ads  are shopping results on the side that show an image of the product (tend to show up when someone searches for something pretty specific). These are now part of AdWords where you can pay per click as opposed to CPA (as it was in November of last year).

• You can get two ads on the page as separate auctions with both the text ad and the product listing ad showing.
• Shopping results are now being showed in sponsored listings and not in the organic listings (the importance of them are tremendous, driving great results)
• Recommend separate AdGroups for each product category
• Use one ad per product, which will be chosen by Google from the category based on user search. Having an AdGroup for each product is a ton of additional work for probably little results because Google is pretty good at serving the right product based on the search.
• Granular tracking is problematic, but help is on the way
• Use promotional copy in PLA’s if you can
• Hand write the titles as opposed to using the same product name as everyone else so you stand out on the page.
• Set initial bids higher than AdWords bids for product specific keywords to gain traction
• Use negatives
• Use all the product targeting capabilities Google offers
• Do PLA’s cannibalize traffic from AdWords? – Apparently not, but look at your own data. CTR on product level AdWords ads did not drop when he tested PLA’s.
• Do PLA’s drive the same quality traffic as text ads? – On balance, yes. Conversion rate is slightly higher, but interestingly the AOV is lower.
• Do PLA’s drive the same quantity of traffic as competing text ads? – Relative position matters, but in general PLA’s drive about half the volume as text ads.

2. Product Extensions – little plus boxes that show up like PLA’s, but only if you hit the plus box.

• Product Extensions improve CTRs and QS but users rarely ever click on the plus box. When they do expand the box, people usually click on the main link anyways.
• These are compliments, not replacements to text ads (last five weeks seen a major increase in popularity).

Brad Geddes approached the topic differently by discussing the top 11 AdWords mistakes:

1. Not using extensions (use at least one).
2. Poor match type selection – use modified broad match as opposed to using broad match (what is not really similar to you may be considered similar to Google).
3. Not utilizing negative keywords – negatives also have match types (take control) – don’t always use free as a negative (product may not be free but shipping may be or someone could search for a free white paper )
4. Poor AdGroup organization – granular AdGroup organization is worth the time invested!
5. Sending traffic to the homepage – took much going on, the user shouldn’t have to make another search once they land on the page. Use product pages and category pages.
6. Understand Quality Score – AdRank = Keyword QS x Max CPC. Remember, you can show up higher than someone who is bidding more than you!
7. Ego Bidding – Don’t always go for position 1 because if you are losing money for every click you get then you are not doing any good.
8. Always test everything – ad copy, display vs. search, landing pages etc.
9. Misusing the content network – you can spend a lot of money quickly in the content network. Don’t look at conversion rates, use smart pricing (what is really important is CPA). If your ad is displayed on a blog, Google will charge you less because there is less of a chance to convert, so your cost per conversion is much less. CTR in the content network will always be really low and conversion rate is always low depending on where your ad is shown, so look at the cost per conversion to see if you are being profitable and acquiring conversions at a low cost.
10. Set & measure goals.
11. Getting an AdWords Education!

Frederick Valleys closed the presentation with discussing a few more best practices that can be used to improve the success of your AdWords Account. A useful tip is that you can have the same keywords in different campaigns and target them to different cities in order to bid differently and further optimize each campaign to fit that particular geographic area. He also mentioned that one of the best ways to improve your QS is to make tighter AdGroups! Run Search Query Reports to determine what searches are triggering your ads. You may want split into different AdGroups if you are finding that the searches are not very similar.

Conversion Optimization Ad Rotation is a new tool that should be turned on to optimize your AdWords account and increase your ROI. This tool will serve the ad in your AdGroup more often that has a better combination of CTR and conversions, instead of just serving ads based on CTR. Just because an ad has a high CTR does not mean that it is converting well and you want the ad that is making you the most money showing more often.

Also, Google just added a new column to AdWords 2 weeks ago that reveals the estimated top of page bid. Utilize this new information to see if it helps you better manage your AdWords account. Also, use the Bid Simulator with caution. Not every click costs you the same amount of money. If your incremental CPC is more than the profit you would make then you don’t want to bid higher and stay at position two. Remember, position one is not always the most profitable! Lastly, if you have a keyword with a bad historical QS, put it in its own AdGroup to see quicker results in QS improvement. But remember, Quality Score should not be your goal, conversions should be!

Do you have any tips and tricks to share?

From the 6th of this month advertisers will be allowed to set up campaigns well in advance to beat the busy Google editorial review periods like the Christmas holidays and other seasonal events amongst other holidays so they know the ads that will start running are good to continue.

Not only will this change benefit Google, but it will also help the Advertisers because it minimizes the risk of having to change the adverts in case they get disapproved at the last minute. Google’s email also suggests that the new paused ads will be the first one’s to get reviewed, followed by the existing paused ads.

There certainly does not seem to be any downside to this announcement for the Advertisers, especially with the busy winter holidays being just around the corner it’s time to get creative and be reviewed!

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