Last minute they decided to combine the two sessions. Search reps couldn't make it and a speaker from the Lead Generation session couldn't make it last minute.
Gregory Markel from InfuseCreation.com Keywords & Ad Copy: The larger your keyword base, the better chance you have to lower your overall CPC/CPA. Include all variants of the keyword. Don't be fooled by your "common sense" in keyword selection. Keyword Tracking: Basic tracking variables are search engine, keyword, clicks and conversions. Also try to track individual keyword, ROIs and so on. 3rd party tools include; Google and Overture's free tools, Atlas One Point, Did-It, and KeywordMax. Ad Copy: The quality of ad copy is one of the most critical in this chain. He showed an example of bad PPC copy; all lower case, body text is missing "trigger words", the URL doesnt reinforce keywords. Then compared it to a very good ad, basically the opposite of the bad one. Tip # 1; watch competition ads for several days to see patterns and consistency. Tip # 2; write a specific ad for each keyword phrase you target. Tip # 3; test for multiple ad copy. Tip # 4 monitor CTR for each ad. Tip # 5 check competition ads. Tip #6 Common sense does not always work. Test and go by the numbers and not your subjective opinion. Landing Page: Landing page types include; single static pages commonly have the lowest conversion rate. Do not send all your ads to one landing page, be creative and spend more time on it. An other type is a micro-site which have higher conversion rates because they have be developed top statically or dynamically tailor those pages to the keyword phrase. An other way to boost conversion rates is to do A/B testing. The final method he listed was to do Multivariable testing, your also testing the elements of the design, form, functionality of this page (you test each component statistically). Conversion expectations should be realistic, most people have a conversion rate below 1% but can be between 1 and 2%. Generally, he sees anything lower then 3% is too low and have achieved as high as 36% conversion rates. Page economy is important, you must extract all non essentials from the page and deliver that message in that area (less = more). All important elements/messaging must be above the folder. Page must load quickly. Test pages on all browsers, use viral campaigns (email a friend), do not be verbose, test with and without an incentive, include an 800 when possible. Measure visitor event behavior and adjust to it often. Tuning: You want your client to tell you the maximum they are willing to spend to get that lead. That number will be used as a ceiling for your CPC. Qualitative campaign tuning elements must be done often (keyword conversions, ad copy tuning, search engines, landing page tuning and so on). Beyond: He then showed some very advanced campaigns. Tracking SEM leads online for offline sales. Leads generated in almost "real time" to live call centers, classified as "cold", "warm", or "hot." Dynamic site content changes triggered via 'what/ifs' based on lead behavior resulting in same session sales.
Cheryle Pingel from Range Search Marketing She said she is basically going to explain why she is upset with the search shopping engines but explains that they are making progress. She showed a screen shot of Yahoo!'s homepage in 1999 where they were promoting the Yahoo! Shopping network and then showed Yahoo! today, difference, the promotion of Yahoo! Shopping is much less. Back then they took a percentage of sales and now they don't. Google in 1999, simple search page and now Google with a Froogle tab (says "Smart Shopping" on Froogle). What is smart shopping, what we have now is not smart shopping (I agree). For a laugh, she was acting out her reaction to something and used the S word (and apologized, but no one was insulted at this geekfest). She then shows MSN in the old days with a shopping link, and today they announced integration with Price Grabber. She said no one is using Shopping portals, its all about integration with Web search. Now MSN shopping link is not even above the fold. She talks about the new MSN Search Shopping blog and complained that when she added a comment, it didn't add the comment. If the shopping search portals are not the way to go (if, if) where is there to go? She brings up a site named Daily Candy which is a fun local shop site. She then brings up Amazon.com and shows how Amazon personalizes things for her at the site. Back to Yahoo! Shopping, and explains that its not just about money spent, she does a search on "sheets" and see the Overture ads at the top above the shopping results (cannibalization). MSN Shopping, she said she gives them props, because they make it pretty and has the "emotion of buying" in the design. She then brings up Yahoo! Mindset (the slider thing), she shows how it works. She then brings up Froogle. Then she shows some shopping search feed export files with optimized names. She said its true 30% that if you "optimize" the title, it will rank you higher. She said, spending more money typically makes more money. She feels the beginning is near for shopping search engines.
