The ROI Revolution Blog

Google Launches Enhanced CPC

August 17, 2010

enhanced cartoon Google released their latest addition to the bidding features family - Enhanced CPC. It's been in beta since March, but Enhanced CPC officially launched yesterday, August 16th.

The premise of the tool, much like Conversion Optimizer, is to "boost your ROI with an easy to use, automated bidding tool." Enhanced CPC will automatically adjust your max CPC bid based on the likelihood your ad will convert.

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Posted by Sarah Hackney, PPC Specialist at 9:38 AM

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Filed under: Online Advertising

GARE: Updated Google Analytics Dimensions Drop-down

August 9, 2010

If you've been following GARE since the beginning, you know that the very first thing GARE ever did was add additional dimensions to the segment (now dimension) drop-down and make these available for nearly every report. As time moved on, more and more segments were added, and the list began to get rather long and unwieldy.

Well, a few weeks back, the dimensions drop-down in Google Analytics underwent a fairly major overhaul. If you haven't seen it yet, it looks something like this:

Clicking the above image will display a larger, more readable image.

I'd like to point out several excellent features in the new drop-down:

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Posted by Jeremy Aube, Analytics and Optimization Specialist at 10:00 AM

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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Analytics Technology, GARE, Google Analytics, Greasemonkey

Introducing Image Search Ads

August 4, 2010

If you've used Google Image Search at all recently, you've probably noticed that things are looking a bit different thanks to a redesign launched by Google last week. The images are grouped closely together, which allows more results to be displayed on the page. If you mouse over a specific image, the image expands out to a larger size with its source displayed below it. After you click an image, you are sent directly to the destination page with the image overlaid at full size. Most exciting for us with the new Google Image Search redesign is the introduction of a new ad format - Image Search Ads!

Image Search Ads allow you to target the millions of users searching Google images. The ads combine text with basic images, which creates more relevant ads that grab the user's attention. I did a quick search for shoes, and this is what showed up:

Notice the Image Search Ads from Sears.com and Skechers.com, with simple images of shoes that are very similar to the search results.

So, why should you use the new Image Search Ad format?

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Posted by Sara Burns, PPC Specialist at 10:03 AM

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Filed under: Online Advertising

Plus One! Google Adds Another Match Type

July 30, 2010

Google's latest targeting feature is the release of the new modified broad match. This new match type gives targeting results that are in between phrase match and the original broad match, but is more closely related to phrase match.

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Posted by Page Christenbury, PPC Specialist at 10:41 AM

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Filed under: Online Advertising

Converting To Asynchronous Code

June 30, 2010

A sinking bowl: fill it with water and use it to track time

There's a pretty strong push now for everyone to move to the new Asynchronous Google Analytics Tracking Code. It's the only code that's available from the interface now, and nearly all of the documentation includes examples of this as the primary code to be used. Converting your code to the new async code might seem like it's just a hassle, but there are benefit to using the new code. Because the code loads asynchronously, there's no longer any danger that it will interfere with the loading of the rest of your page. This means that the code can now be placed up in the header of your pages rather than right before the closing </body> tag. The result is that you'll be able to track a greater percentage of your visitors than your were previously, which will improve the accuracy of your reports in Google Analytics. Now if your setup isn't too complex, converting won't be too big of an issue. Your old code might look something like this:

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Posted by Jeremy Aube, Analytics and Optimization Specialist at 7:59 AM

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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Analytics Technology, Google Analytics

Can Facebook Grow My Business?

June 24, 2010

A few months ago I posted a mini case study on a lead generation client for whom we've been able to find success on Facebook over time. Of course we have also seen less-than-stellar advertising performance (i.e. compared to Google/Yahoo/MSN) on Facebook for clients in other spaces.

So, the question that's often been on my mind since we started managing Facebook advertising, is whether or not a certain kind of business is a good fit for the Facebook ad platform.

So, my Facebook PPC client experiences usually translate into recommendations for clients, but I've always known that those answers are a bit linear in nature and I have yet to find someone with a few more Facebook battle scars to provide more insights.

That was until yesterday, when I discovered a 10-question quiz for the business owner or PPC manager that may be wondering "Is Facebook for me" @ Perry Marshall's new website/tool www.isfacebookforme.com - catchy URL. Here you will find a series of 10 "Yes or No" style business model questions that "provide instant feedback on whether Facebook could be a main traffic source for your business."

I completed the survey for the client that we've had success with on Facebook, and it gave me a 6/10, meaning that "Facebook will probably be a significant way for you to get more customers affordably" - and I can say that it has!

So, if you're considering Facebook now, consider checking out this new tool and getting a heads up on these 3 questions that it can help answer:

- Can I advertise on Facebook and make a profit?
- Will my products appeal to Facebook users?
- How much time should I devote to understanding how to advertise on Facebook?

The quiz is here: www.isfacebookforme.com

Posted by Ben Ronnenberg, PPC Specialist at 12:35 PM

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Filed under: Online Advertising
Tagged as: Facebook

Want Higher Landing Page Quality Scores in Google? Here's How:

June 23, 2010

Google Recently rolled out a new series of advanced tests for their Google Advertising Professionals program, and in some of the study material they explain what affects advertiser's landing page quality score.

Here are three areas Google wants you to focus on to help ensure your website receives a decent quality score:

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Posted by Page Christenbury, PPC Specialist at 9:31 AM

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Filed under: Website Optimization

How to Place Ads on YouTube with Google AdWords: Part 2

June 14, 2010

In Part 1 of this series, I showed how to launch YouTube promoted videos through Google AdWords. When you promote one of your videos, you are paying YouTube to funnel more traffic to the video... but the traffic still stays on YouTube. (Of course, you can include a call-to-action link in your video that goes to your website, but that is more a feature of the video than a specific advertising strategy.)

You probably want to do more than just get people to watch one of your videos in an environment controlled by YouTube. You want to get people to come to your website where they can take a desired action and you can make money.

There are multiple ways you can get your ads to show on YouTube searches, inside and alongside other people's videos. With the right targeting, this can be a very profitable way to take advantage of YouTube's enormous amount of traffic.

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Posted by Chris Crompton, PPC Specialist at 9:38 AM

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Filed under: Online Advertising

How to Place Ads on YouTube with Google AdWords: Part 1

May 28, 2010

In search volume alone, YouTube is the #2 search engine behind Google itself. Yet even with its gigantic size, it is easy for YouTube to get passed up by online advertisers. Many advertisers ignore the opportunity due to the convoluted process required to explicitly target YouTube with ads. This means there is less competition for ad space on YouTube and great rewards for those who can crack the code.

In this post I hope to clear up the confusion and tell you exactly how to get your ads showing on YouTube.

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Posted by Chris Crompton, PPC Specialist at 9:18 AM

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Filed under: Online Advertising

Ecommerce Website Owners: Win A $35,000 Makeover!

May 21, 2010

We're very excited to announce that BigCommerce, the leading innovator in hosted ecommerce software for small business merchants (and one of our fabulous clients!), has just launched the BigCommerce $35,000 Ecommerce Makeover Contest to discover online merchants who have the potential to become the next ecommerce giant (think Amazon.com, Zappos.com) but need a little help to do it!

BigCommerce Contest.jpg