A recent survey of pay-per-click advertising platform vendors by PPC Summit reveals significant shifts in paid search marketing strategies. Among them, bid management, which historically has been the cornerstone of paid search optimization, has become just one of many elements affecting the effectiveness pay-per-click (PPC) advertising programs. In line with the shift, vendors are expanding their product offerings and search marketers are altering their paid search strategies and practices.

“Historically, bid management has been focused on optimizing position and keyword costs but it has become clear that other factors affect overall ROI and competitiveness,” said Lisa Morgan, the report’s principal analyst and CEO of Strategic Rainmakers. “Although position and keyword costs remain important factors, search marketers also want to drive process and integrated marketing efficiencies.”

The 2010 PPC Management and Optimization report profiles 14 of the leading PPC management and optimization vendors that have traditionally been categorized as bid management vendors. The report also includes the results of in-depth interviews with the vendors and 27 of their agency and enterprise customers.

Only two of 14 vendors profiled in the report consider “bid management” an accurate characterization of their product offerings. The other 12 say bid management is only part of what they do because their products now provide considerably broader functionality. Although features varies from vendor to vendor, there are now three fundamental feature sets that include bid management, campaign management, and reporting.

The expanded features are typically integrated so the data collected for reporting purposes can be used to optimize bid, position, ROI, margin and other factors. The feature expansion is also affecting paid search function automation, and allows for more granular forms of conversion attribution. According to the report, the expanded functionality enables greater efficiencies at more levels that collectively improve bottom-line results.

Available now in two versions, both  profile vendors and their products, and include in-depth buyer’s guide.

- Professional Edition: for paid search practitioners, covers interviews and tool acquisition processes, outcomes, and tips for identifying and selecting paid search tools. (150+ pages for $399).

- Executive Edition: for executives and managers who oversee paid search programs,  a summarized version of the same information designed for fast readability and streamlined decision making. The Executive Version includes tips for more effectively approving and overseeing the purchase of paid search tools. (Available for $299)

To purchase the reports or to download a complimentary report preview, go to 2010 Pay Per Click (PPC) Management and Optimization report.

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If you’ve spent any time managing a pay per click campaign, you know that it takes diligent management to ensure that you don’t overbid for keywords, maintain your rank and get the maximum ROI (return on investment). Bid management software can help you manage all of this easily, and free you up to attend to other matters in your business.

Note: Before we discuss some of the things bid management software can do for you, just a note of caution. We advise that you be as hands-on with your pay per click campaigns as possible in the early stages. This way, you’ll learn the ins and outs of this lucrative form of internet marketing quicker.

Then, when and/or if you do decide to use bid management software, you will know exactly how to make it work most effectively for you. With that being said, following are three benefits of using bid management software.

3 Benefits of Using Pay Per Click Bid Management Software

• Prevent Overbidding: Pay per click bid management software can help you keep your keyword rankings on target, without overbidding for them. It does this by regulating your bids and turning off keywords during certain hours.
• Increase Your ROI: Pay per click bid management software can increase your ROI. It does this by placing your listing in the most cost-effective position for you. You don’t have to waste time doing this manually.
• Cross Platform Functionality: Most pay per click bid management software will work across platforms, ie, Yahoo!, Google, etc. This means you don’t have to waste time navigating different search engine account interfaces.

Pay Per Click bid management software is an excellent tool to add to your internet marketing arsenal – once you understand the nuances of PPC campaign management from the ground up.

The reason Pay Per Click advertising is so popular is that everyone can do it – with a budget as little as $50 or $100 (or less). But, not all clicks are created equal. Some can cost mere pennies, while others can go for tens or hundreds of dollars each.

So, how do you determine how much you want to spend per click? Well, it’s an art.

Pay Per Click Marketing: 2 Tips on How to Spend Little and Gain Big

Budget: Start with the amount in your budget to determine how many clicks you can get. For example, if you have a $100 per month budget and you bid on a keyword that is 25 cents per click, then you can afford 400 clicks per month.

If you bid on a keyword that is $5, then you can only get 20 clicks. So obviously, the larger your budget the more clicks you can afford. And, this is why you’ll always see the big boys at the top. You won’t be able to outbid them.

Now comes the cool part though that does allow you to spend a little, and still gain a lot.

Position Smartly: As in, don’t even shoot for being number one. As we discussed in the post, Pay Per Click Marketing: 3 Tips for Quicker Results, “research has proven that being number one isn’t necessarily the best spot to be in . . .because you get a lot of curiosity seekers who’ll click on ads in this spot. . . . [but won’t buy].”

This wastes money.

The best strategy is to position yourself high enough to bypass the tire kickers, while keeping your cost per click as low as possible. In order to do this, you have to know which keywords to use to get you in this “sweet spot.” It’s an art, and takes time and testing, but well worth learning. 

At PPC Summit, we teach you this and a whole lot more about how to be successful as a pay per click marketer.

Most of us don’t pay much attention to our pennies. When we’re checking our wallets for cash we don’t count pennies; when checking our bank statements, we focus on the dollars and not so much the cents.

But, did you know that you can use your pennies to beat the AdWords competition? It’s a huge, cost-saving search engine marketing strategy that can mean the difference between being the highest bidder for a particular keyword and losing the AdWords bidding war.

When marketers set up an AdWords campaign, most of the focus is on the even numbers, ie, $0.10, $0.20, $0.40, $1.00, $1.20, etc. Why? No one really knows, but one the fact is that if you focus your bids on odd numbers (eg, $0.11, $0.21, $0.41), you significantly increase your odds of winning the bid for a keyword without breaking your budget.

Here’s an example: Let’s take the keyword “marketing.” The average CPC or Cost-Per-Click is $3.88 (Google AdWords Keyword Research). If you bid just one cent above, you would be the winning bidder at $3.89.

Now take a moment to review the average cost per click on random keywords. You will quickly discover that more times than not, the majority of the bids are even numbers. While you may not have the budget to bid $3.00 on a keyword, know that this method applies to all keywords, in all of the AdWords programs.

If you’d like to learn about other winning AdWords strategies like this, join the AdWords experts at the upcoming PPC Summit Chicago or New York. They have the knowledge and experience to help make your AdWords campaign a success.

Seven Do’s and Don’ts For Google Adwords Campaign Success:

#1 Make sure your unique selling proposition distinguishes your product or service from the competition - try to incorporate benefits into your ad.

#2 Conduct market research - understand the search habits of your target audience and analyze your audience demographics.

#3 Set budget limits for your campaign costs (daily, weekly or monthly) - don’t spend more than 10 percent of your average sales amount.

#4 Bid on keywords that your target audience uses - don’t make the mistake of bidding too high for popular terms. 

#5 Build extensive keyword lists – review where/how your target audience searches, analyze your website traffic and study your competition. Use online keyword generation tools to save time.

#6 Give viewers a reason to click on your ad – copy should include a ‘call to action’ and create a sense of urgency to move the viewer. Use your search terms in the headline and/or ad text and make sure to test multiple ad variations. Incorporate product/brand names, discounts and free trials into your ad message when possible.  

#7 Create optimized custom landing pages – make sure your ad copy is relevant to the keywords on the destination page. 

And remember to always monitor and analyze your ad results - check the conversions/click through rates of your ads and keywords often. 

PPC Summit LA Trainer David Szetela

PPC Summit LA 2008 Lunch Keynote

PPC Summit LA was a huge success on all levels according to event sponsors, speakers and 100+ internet marketers who attended the conference on Sept. 25 -26, 2008. We would like to thank all of the sponsors, speakers, and of course the attendees for making this conference a winner. PPC Summit LA sponsors include: Google, Business.com, Lyris, ContextWeb, Engine Ready, Adapt Technologies, Orange Soda, Web Host Industry Review, PR Web and Search Marketing Standard.

We are grateful for the expert speakers and trainers who shared profitable Pay Per Click campaign secrets for optimal results on Google and other search engines. Attendees had the opportunity to learn from 20+ sessions covering: improving quality score, keyword best practices, better website and landing pages, winning copywriting strategies, bid management and much more.