Two Simple Excel Tips for Drafting PPC Ad Copy

From experienced PPC marketers to someone just starting out, these quick tips will be a big help during the process of writing ad copy.

=LEN() Excel Function

If you need to find out how many characters are being used in the different lines of your ad copy, this Excel function will come in handy. Simply type in =LEN(INSERT CELL HERE) such as =LEN(A2), and it will insert the total character count within a cell (including spaces).

Conditioning Formatting in Excel

Taking the =LEN() function one step further, Conditional Formatting will allow you to highlight a cell as you specify based on a particular criteria. For example, let’s say you want to highlight a cell in red when it exceeds a character count of 35, this will allow you to do so along with much more.

You should be able to find the Conditional Formatting button in the Home ribbon of Excel (I’m currently using Excel 2010). You’ll see there are options such as, if a number is >greater than X, automatically highlight a cell in Y.

By using these two features together, it will make your job just a bit more efficient. A quick scan will easily tell you what ad copy is not adhering to character limits and needs your attention.

What are your favorite Excel functions for use with PPC? Remember, this is only scratching the surface!

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Image credit: Ryan Hyde

New Google AdWords Feature Allows Shared Budgets

If you ever hoped that AdWords would allow you to share your daily budgets across all of your campaigns within one account, that time is now. Google released a new feature that may make administering budgets across an account effortless.

You can find this feature in the “Shared Library” section under Budgets. Here you can also review reporting for aggregate performance metrics for multiple campaigns with a shared budget.

Although shared budgets is portrayed as a way to make your life easier when monitoring your campaigns, I am concerned about how the budget will be distributed across the campaigns. Since Google is automatically adjusting the budgets, how will you ensure one campaign doesn’t eat into the budget of another? Will it give the other campaigns a fair test?

Depending on your AdWords objectives, this feature may make sense. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Like this post? Connect with Erika Barbosa on Google+.

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I Have a Dog Grooming Business; Can I Work with Ten Golden Rules?

Before today, most small business owners who wished to work with an agency would hear an answer they didn’t like – either it was cost-prohibitive or the agency lacked the scalability to work with smaller accounts. As a sign of the times, Ten Golden Rules is changing all that with new online marketing packages specifically created for small and medium-sized businesses that want to harness the power of the Internet to grow their businesses.

As a business owner, finding time to keep up with the ever-changing world of Internet marketing can be challenging. From Social Media to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to creating a competitive website, navigating the online world can be confusing if not a bit overwhelming. With these new services from Ten Golden Rules, you can now have access to the processes developed for larger companies, like hospitals and universities, without breaking your budget.

Simply visit the website and click on the service you’re most interested in. The entire process is automated for convenience and efficiency, and draws on almost a decade of knowledge from in-market testing and today’s best practices.

Do you do any of your own Internet marketing for your small or medium-sized business? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Google AdWords Announcement – New Matching Behavior

Similar to how Google’s organic search systems understand misspellings or variations in keywords, Google AdWords will soon offer the same.

Google explains, “Starting in mid-May, phrase and exact match keywords will match close variants, including misspellings, singular/plural forms, stemmings, accents and abbreviations. Based on our research and testing, we believe these changes will be broadly beneficial for users and advertisers.”

This means you will have a greater opportunity to generate more clicks as Google reports at least 7% of searches contain a misspelling, and the longer the search query, the higher this rate is. However, advertisers will still have the option to preserve their current matching behaviors in campaigns.

These new controls will begin deploying within the next few weeks, but, the new matching behavior won’t actually start until mid-May.

This will be a big time-saver for some advertisers. You will no longer have to worry about including misspellings, plural keywords, etc. to ensure you aren’t missing any opportunities. Now you will have more opportunities for impressions with less keywords. But, as a safeguard against erroneous clicks, be sure to use negative keywords.

Does this sound like a feature you will be testing in your campaigns?

Like this post? Connect with Erika Barbosa on Google+.

Image credit: Horia Varlan

Overview of A Few Google AdWords Basics

Last week I provided some details on a new Google webinar series that recently premiered. While watching a video from the Google AdWords Classroom, I jotted down a few highlights from one of the lectures that I would like to share with you. This information is ideal for someone who is just getting started or wanting to brush up on AdWords basics.

What is AdWords Optimization?

Optimization means taking steps to get the results you want by improving the quality and performance of your AdWords account.

The Benefits of a Good Structure

It provides a positive impact on:

• The overall performance of the account
• Makes account management easier and more effective
• Makes tracking and analysis easier and more effective

In the end, a good structure allows you to get more clicks for less money.

Campaigns vs. Ad Groups

Campaigns:

You should create separate campaigns when there is a need for different focuses such as:

• Daily budgets
• Adapted to country and language
• Start and end dates

Ad Groups:

You should create separate ad groups when there is a need for different focuses such as:

• To advertise different products or services
• To set different cost per conversion limits

A Few Key Factors to Keep In Mind:

• Organize campaigns by topic
• Create highly specific ad groups
• Avoid duplicate keywords across ad groups

To learn more about selecting optimal keywords, writing compelling ads, etc., check out the below video:



What did you learn from the video?

Personalized Google Pay Per Click Ads

While using Google search, have you noticed the link, “Why these ads?”


Upon clicking this link, Google advises that the ads are based on your current search terms. You also have the option to visit Google’s Ads Preferences Manager to learn more or opt-out.

The “learn more” section goes on to explain, “Google tries to show you the most relevant ads, whether or not you're opted in to seeing personalized ads. While we often match ads with specific pages (based on the page content or the search terms you enter), additional information helps us to personalize your ads.”

You also have the option to block specific advertisers’ ads if you don’t find them useful.

Personalized Ads Statistics

Fewer ads: Those who are opted-in see 19% fewer ads than opted-out users.
More relevant: Opted-in users are 59% more likely to click on ads than opted-out users.



Do you find yourself more inclined to utilize personalized ads due to the relevancy?

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents The Digital Marketer's Roadmap - The Top 3 Tactics for Internet Marketing Right Now

In this Wednesday Webinar, provided by Jay Berkowitz, CEO of TenGoldenRules.com and Founder of the InternetMarketingClub.org, Jay will share the top 3 tactics that are working right now in internet marketing.

This webinar will help you learn a new tactic that generates leads for 3 times less than Google Pay Per Click (PPC), a critical element your website needs to succeed in internet marketing, and another tactic that brings customers back to your site to make a sale.

This free webinar will take place Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 from 12:30pm EDT - 1:30pm EDT. To register and for more information please visit: Digital Marketer's Roadmap - The Top 3 Tactics for Internet Marketing Right Now