In this post, I will discuss the benefits of Storytelling to both the client and the PPC Guru handling the account.

Educating Clients on which Metrics Matter

In a lot of cases, when boarding a new client who is new to PPC or had a horrible experience with a previous agency or a Google Self Optimization (hee) there is a false understanding of success metrics. Some may think Impressions or CTR% is what measures success. Other just care about clicks. So, it’s up to the PPC Guru to set the record straight and propose an “eye-opening” strategy which contains both “before the click” and “after the click” performance goals. Furthermore, it’s also imperative to set the right expectations in order to gauge trust with the client.

Leverage Web Analytics Data to Feed the Story

Just looking at PPC performance data is not enough to tell the story. PPC marketing has a strong effect on Brand Awareness and influencing Organic results. In my experience, I have had client’s Direct Traffic (Bookmark/Type-in) performance skyrocket when we were targeting “non-branded” keywords. Once we decided to pause that campaign, the Direct Traffic performance dropped. That’s a Story that needs to be explained to the client.

Utilize Google Adwords Dimensions

They are other important metrics within Google Adwords Dimensions which also contribute to telling the story, such as Hour of Day, Day of the Week and GEO by state, metro area, city and most specific locations. These are the metrics which combined with overall performance data is what makes up a holistic story that can be understood by the client and used as next level optimization strategy.

Presenting the PPC Performance Story

In my opinion, Acquisio has the best PPC Reporting Platforms available today. They simply SYNC all of the data from the Search Engines and populate amazing looking reports where a user can “slice & dice” any performance metrics of their choice. Acquisio also allows users to upload images and insert customized text fields for Storytelling. Here is an example Report.

Following the PDCA process I’ve listed some guidelines as to how each step applies to a new or existing Paid Search initiative. The guideline is not exhaustive and it is not enough just follow the guideline and assume you are going to be profitable. It is critical for you to standardize each step of the process so it is easy to repeat.

PLAN

Planning is the most critical step in the Paid Search process – when done correctly everything else will fall into place. Planning includes:

1. Review of Client Website and Offerings
2. Assessment of PPC Accounts
3. Assessment of Analytics Implementation
4. Client Goals and Past performance
5. Competitive Analysis
6. Campaign Structure and Design
7. Keyword Research
8. Landing Page Development
9. Ad Creative Development
10. Budgeting

DO

Once the plan is communicated and agreed to it is time for implementation. Implementation can be broken down into two main areas – PPC Campaign Build and Analytics.

PPC Campaign Build includes:

1. Campaign Settings
2. Budgeting
3. Ad groups
4. Keywords
5. Ad creatives
6. Landing pages
7. Destination URL tagging
8. SiteLinks, ProductLinks, etc.

Analytics Implementation includes:

1. Java script development
2. Site tagging for analytics packages like VisiStat or Google Analytics
3. Audit site tagging
4. Verify conversions are tracking properly
5. Set up a method for reporting (if this includes using a PPC Platform like Acquisio, additional steps will be needed to import campaigns into third party tools.)

CHECK

Now that you have launched your Paid Search campaigns and allowed then some time to run, it is now time to check the progress.

Monitoring & reporting on progress includes:

1. Review keyword activity for conversions and Quality Score
2. Search query mining for new keywords and negative keywords
3. Review text or display ads for conversion performance
4. Identify patterns in data for new targeting options
5. Review audience and demographics performance
6. Weekly Dashboard review
7. Monthly Dashboard review & analysis

ACT

Evaluation of the first three steps should provide insight in to ongoing continuous process improvement.

Actionable insights on where and what to do next to improve performance include:

1. Campaign and ad group targeting
2. Keyword performance and bid management
3. Keyword and Search Query expansion
4. Ad creative performance and future testing
5. Landing page testing

Again, this is a general guideline to follow. Using the PDCA process alone is not enough to keep quality, customer satisfaction, time, costs and profitability in its most effective and efficient state but it will give you a solid foundation to build from. By following the PDCA process you need to standardize the steps in each part of the process in order to tie those steps back to the amount of time and cost it takes to complete each step. Standardizing the processes allows you to make certain that you are using the most efficient way to complete the various tasks in the fewest amount of steps. Time, they say, is money. And lastly, you need to make sure you are not only following the standardization of the processes, but that you are also choosing to do the right type of work that adds value and meets or exceeds customer satisfaction and expectations.

*Deming’s PDCA (The Deming Cycle) was initially developed by Walter A. Shewhart. In his later years Deming updated PDCA to PDSA replacing the ‘check’ phase with ‘study’ since he felt that ‘check’ emphasized inspection rather than analysis…

Related Articles

American Society for Quality (ASQ) – Plan Do Check Act

Training for Endurance in Lean (with PDCA)

Why “After the Click” is just as important as “Before the Click”
PPC Marketers who put a blind eye to just look at conversion quantity and not conversion quality is setting themselves up for failure. No client is going to stay with them very long if their leads never turn into $$$ for them. However, taking this first step to solving this problem starts with a simple conversation with the client and asking very specific questions like:

• Why is this not considered a good lead?
• What information do you need from the visitor to consider them qualified.
• What other information can you give me from past clients?

Then after those questions are answered, the PPC Marketer should also be allowed access to view the leads that are coming in so they can analyze the messaging and all of the other demographic and geographic information so they can come back and adjust their messaging and/or entire strategy.

Measuring Keyword Intent
Many of us know that certain Long Tail terms have specific motivations behind them. As in human behavior, our words and how we say them impact responses from those listening. Terms like Buy, Order, Immediate, Fast,  Help, Need, etc… have different levels of intent as compared to others which do not have that same level of intensity. Based on the industry that the PPC campaign is targeting, work with the client to identify these terms and apply them to the adgroup, as well as the Text Ad Messaging and test it.

Conversion Tricks to Filter out Bad Leads:
Instead of using a basic Online Form, you should create a brief survey to get the visitor engaged and allow them to provide information that could automatically  qualify them or put them in the trash. Surveys are good for two (2) reasons.

• Often get a better response rate
• Provide a sense of interaction and engagement that a general form does not.

Point Based Conversion tracking:
Tracking Conversions is a pretty easy thing to do and no matter how much work is done “before the click”, understanding with Keywords and Text Ads drive the most “qualified leads” is difficult to identify. One way to fix this problem is putting a point system in place based on the answers to the questions and have those points calculated in the Conversion Tracking Revenue Dynamic Variable (as used in eCommerce).

Based on these points, we now can see that from 1 – 10, with 10 being best, we can identify what is generating the best leads. Moreover, this will require some programming to generate a point system, but the end result will save the advertisers hundreds if not thousands of PPC dollars in the future. See an example below:

In Conclusion:
PPC Marketing is an evolving industry which continually keeps getting more and more complex and we need to find ways to get our clients they best results possible. Quality Scores and Optimal Landing Pages are good, but unless the lead turns into strong prospect, it’s all useless to the client. Obtaining better qualified leads is as easy is chatting the client to see the types of leads coming in and understanding why they were good or unqualified.

According to Google, “Call Metrics works by assigning and placing a toll-free forwarding number next to your ad text on Google search pages. When a user sees your ad and calls the number, AdWords registers the call and forwards it to your business.”

Google’s Call Metric Stats So Far to Date:

• Google says they have connected 5 million+ calls for thousands of businesses.
• Calls generated from ads using Call Metrics last six minutes, on average.

New “Bells and Whistles”:

• Reporting is now available at the ad group and campaign level for manually-dialed calls (subject to minimum volume).
• Continue to segment reports to compare how many calls were received from mobile clicks-to-call and how many were manually dialed after the ad was shown on a desktop, notebook, or tablet computer.

New Pricing Structures:

• A $1.00 USD (or equivalent in CAD) charge applies to manually dialed calls completed to your Google forwarding numbers. These calls occur when a potential customer on a desktop, notebook or tablet computer sees your ad and dials the number shown.
• Pricing for mobile clicks-to-call remains unchanged, whether you use Call Metrics or not. They continue to be charged as regular mobile search ad clicks.

Most Interesting:
One of the most interesting pieces of this post, is their mention of a future release called Ad Rank calculations which identify Ad Position and CPC. Google states the following:

“In a future release, we plan to incorporate calls into Ad Rank calculations, which determine an ad’s position and cost per click. At that time, you’ll be able to influence your ad position by specifying a bid per call greater than $1.00 USD. This will parallel the way that clickthrough rate (CTR) and max CPC bids can influence Ad Rank today.”

In Conclusion
Google continues to provide it’s advertisers more ways to spend money and at the same time take out the competition for those 3rd party companies offering additional services (outside of Google) to enable the advertiser to get the most out of their investment. However, Google is very smart to be developing these tools for free because they are continually finding ways to get more advertisers dollars. With every Google release of a new tool for the platform, it forces 3rd party software companies to push the envelope and come up with more innovative ideas and that is not necessarily a Bad thing (from an advertiser’s view of course)

Data Fuzziness:
This uncertainty is surrounding their Search Partners, as according to Google “have different methods for showing AdWords ads that don’t always conform to Google’s definition of “side” ads”. (but I guess that can be expected.)

Daily/Monthly Budget Depletion:
This is in reference to the traditional budget depletion amongst the other advertisers who may have ran out of their budgets at the end of the day or month, which could influence the data around positioning from Side to Top sections during specific times of the day. Since, Google retired their Position Preference option, the Ads will dynamically move themselves up the ranks if the competition runs out of their daily spend.

The Next Generation of the SERP Heatmap?
Now, I’m sure many of us are used to the seeing the Heat Map which tells us at a high level where most of the clicks are being generated, but not necessarily the Conversions. However, since Google can now attribute conversions to the top or right hand side, perhaps this will create the “Next Generation” of the Conversion Heatmaps.

What does “OTHER” mean?
Google search: Other — If your campaign includes certain special ad formats (like product listing ads), these formats will be categorized as “Other” because they don’t occupy the usual top and side search ad locations. Google may also occasionally test ads in new locations that will appear in this category.(This is an interesting statement to keep an eye on for future releases)

Search partners: Other — Search partners have different methods for showing AdWords ads that don’t always conform to Google’s definition of “side” ads. Therefore, all ads that don’t appear directly above partner search results are categorized as “Other.” This can help you avoid making inaccurate comparisons between partner and Google ad locations.

Why is this Segmentation Helpful to us?
Affiliates & Reseller Competition: For those advertisers who are competing with a high volume of Affiliates, Resellers and or even a plethora of competition, this will help you define whether the Top or Side positions are working better, especially with in relation to Organic Results.

Brand Terms: Even though this is one of the biggest battles facing PPC agencies and consultants who are telling their clients they should bid on their brand names (even though ranking high Organically) for immediate promotions and brand protection, this segmentation might be the “smoking gun” to convincing them that they need to bid on their own brand name. This also opens the door to PPC testing.

This now raises the question: “Should Google reserve the right to deny these advertisers, like they currently do with tobacco, hard alcohol and fire-arms?”

Does Google feel that Phone Tapping and Spying Equipment is considered ok to the general public? This doesn’t make sense to me at all.

This should be considered a violation and Google has a responsibility to deny these types of Ads from showing up in Paid Search Results.

Now, look what Google Adwords also considers “OK”:

Take a look at these (recently taken) screenshots:

What do you think?

#2 Prospects Reporting is Vague and Incomplete:
Advertisers who hire a PPC agency, need to know what the hell is happening with their investment. providing excel files of impressions, clicks, ctr% and match types are completely useless and does not tell a simple damn thing. The Reporting should be high level, show conversions, ROI, ROAS%, which campaigns, adgroups, keywords and text ads that are converting, as well contain analysis, insight and future optimization suggestions. It is lack of detail and frankly “laziness” which is hurting the industry as a whole.
My Recommendation: Use a 3rd Party PPC reporting Platform such as Acquisio where you can automatically slice and dice the data anyway you want and not have to spend hours and hours in excel creating charts. Acquisio does charge for their service, but it’s definitely worth the cost of a client and a potential referral.

#3 Prospects Conversion Tracking is not Setup Properly:
If the client does not have conversion tracking at the search engine platform level, it’s not an accurate metric to report successes and failures. Relying on Google Analytics for PPC reporting is a very bad idea and it is not 100% accurate.
My Recommendation: Just explain to them that GA is not a reliable tracking source for Adwords and provide their webmaster with detailed instructions on how to add the code to the confirmation page, as well as show them how to add the dynamic SUBTOTAL variable to track actual revenues for ROI and ROAS metrics.

#4 Prospect Feels that PPC is a Scam
This is the toughest part of the conversation to try and persuade them to get back into the game. While you need to be careful not to completely “bash” the current agency.
My Recommendation: You need to professionally explain all of the missing opportunities that exist that have not yet been implemented, as well as back it all up with accurate Analytics and reporting. Many Prospects feel that everything is setup once and the account is on autopilot. In order to reassure them that you are a different agency, you need to explain that automation (even though it has it’s advantages) is not always the best practice, especially when trying to convince that PPC does work.

#5 Prospect Needs more Reassurance
At the end of the sales call, the prospect is reviewing their notes, feeling this is a little “too good to be true” and needs a little more from the potential agency to get that “real deal” feeling.

My Recommendation: One of the best things you can do to persuade them to go with you is to contact them immediately after the call via email and offer them referrals of current clients as well as a Case Study and even a sample report so they can use that as a deciding factor. It’s all about timing and urgency to gain their trust and business. The faster and more proactive you can be, the better the chances you will get them as a client.

#1 Content is Keyword Gold:
This often gets overlooked as advertisers don’t realize that in the product/service content lies many opportunities to find the right people. Keyword Tools provide a great understanding on how people search and populate top search terms, but they do not necessarily mean they are good for your campaigns. When mining for keywords in your content, look for specific modifiers, indirect terms and even phrases that ask a question.

#2 Get the Most out of Every Product/Service Description:
If the advertiser/retailer has created a campaign based on the product name or category, that is NOT enough. Not everyone is going to search that way. The goal is to identify every possibility for someone to search for your products/service. For example, here are some quick examples of a keyword/adgroup  strategy if you sell Books online, you want to have the following keywords/specific adgroups

• Author Name
• Full Book Title
• Short Versions of Book Title
• Misspellings of Book Title
• Various different modifiers (hardback, softback, etc….)
• Specific Editions
• ISBN Number
• Any information relevant in the product description

#3 Utilize Organic Search Queries:
This strategy does not get the credit it deserves. Just because you’re targeting a bunch keywords in PPC does not mean that SEO or Organic Searches are irrelevant. It’s quite the opposite. Identifying search queries that Organically that have not been covered in PPC is an INSTANT GOLDMINE waiting to be discovered. Too many times lost opportunities or failures in PPC are do to the lack of data mining on the organic side. Do Google a Favor, find where people are searching for you in SEO.

#4 Not Everyone Searches the Same Way:
There are so many different ways people search for things and if the advertiser does not utilize this, they are throwing possible conversions down the toilet. how many times have you had conversations with other who says the same damn thing, but use different words. Here’s a classic example.

Advertiser: Local Phone & VOIP Service Provider
Services: Local Phone Services
Types of Related Search Terms:

• Home Phone Service, Home Phone Telephone Service
• Local Phone Service, Local Telephone Service,
• Residential Phone Service, Residential Telephone Service
• Local Land Line Phone Service, Local Land Line Telephone Service
• VOIP Phone Service, VOIP Telephone Service
• Voice over IP Phone Service, Voice over IP Telephone Service
• Internet Phone Service
• Web-based Phone Service

#5 Utilizing Internal Search Queries & Live Chats:
This is an “oldie but a goodie” that needs to be mentioned again, especially with Live chat services. Just because you got people to your site, does not mean you know what they are going to do. In fact, wouldn’t you love to know what the hell they are typing into your website search box? What if they are searching for someone that you do not sell? That would be a good enough reason to start looking at your internal search queries.

Leveraging Facebook Ad’s Targeting Abilities
The targeting abilities alone in Facebook are superior to that of Google’s current demographic options. In Facebook, you can create multiple tests based on the a few of the following options:

#1 Age Segmentation
In Adwords you have the ability to exclude certain age groups just as in Facebook. However, Facebook provides actual audience circulation numbers which can be helpful for future strategies. For example, you could do an Age segmentation test targeting different Age Groups with different messaging and photos. These tests can run at the same time and you can see the best performers very quickly.

#2 Battle of the Sexes
Instead of spending thousands of dollars in Google, why not take advantage of Facebook Ads, where you get basically find whether Men or Women convert better. Since Facebook’s Algorithm is extremely fast, you can see results within hours with a set daily budget. By doing some simple multivariate testing in Facebook Ads where you provide different CTA’s and Photos, you will have a better idea on what to try next with Adwords Display.

#3 Geo targeting
This option seems redundant, but in actuality it does have it’s benefits in FB Ads. The reason is based upon the Audience Volume of the specific States or Regions. Even though Facebook has a different audience and frankly “NOT EVERYONE IS ON FACEBOOK”, it does provide a little insight into the “savvy ness” of the visitors.

#4 Likes & Interests
This is an interesting targeting ability which can help provide the advertiser identify different interests and promote their products/services based on those interests. For example, what if a Facebook advertiser wanted to test if their 4×4 Offroading DVDs would get any traction “no pun intended” with Females who are already fans of Cars.com, REI, Cabelas, etc… Furthermore, if this test revealed that it did indeed increase conversions, then the Advertiser would then have better insight on how to target specific sites in the Google Display Network.

#5 Relationships
Now, you may think I am pulling this one “out of my a%$”, but there is value in understanding the different in relationships and applying it to Adwords. In this case, one strategy would be to test Married Females who are looking for an anniversary gift for their husbands. You could create and test various products, CTA, Age segments and Landing Pages that perform better. Once that has been identified, you can take those winners and apply them to a Display Campaign in which you target Females and specific ages only.

How to effectively and efficiently implement these Facebook Tests:
After performing countless Facebook Ads tests in the past, I have to give “KUDOS” to Acquisio’s Facebook platform as they have built a phenomenal product that honestly made it so much easier on myself to build out these various tests in such a short period of time. If i had to identify one major “bell and whistle” it would have to be their ability Mass Copy all campaigns and Ads and update all of the targeting options within a few clicks. The reason for this choice is that you cannot do that in the current Facebook Ads interface. If you are using Facebook Ads, I would recommend trying Acquisio’s platform.

Read more about Acquisio’s Facebook Ads Platform

In Conclusion:
Facebook Ads has had a reputation of being a poor performing platform with lots of cost and little conversions. (Which is why they decided to pull their conversion tracking, but bringing it back slowly to specific users). However, if you start digging into different strategies in Facebook you can actually apply what you learn into your Adwords Display Campaign. Moreover, if you consider the speed at which FB Ads run, you can have a good sample size in hours, not weeks. In this Semgeek’s opinion, I believe that FB Ads deserves more attention from an advertisers budget not so much for ROAS%, but for it’s uncanny ability to help predict what will work best in other search engine platforms.

Misperception #6: High Quality Score means a Good Campaign:
This sounds confusing, but this is absolutely not true. How many times have you see a High Quality Score rank for a term that has no conversions. How many times have you seen a very low Quality Score Rank for a term that possesses many conversions. This metric means nothing and should not be looked at with any concern. Furthermore, the algorithm behind this rank is very suspect and should be modified to be based on Conversions. Word of advice, STOP thinking about it.

Misperception #5: Good CTR% is Most Important Metric
Yes, a good CTR% is a sign that you have a good impressions vs. clicks ratio. But it does NOT mean SUCCESS. You could argue that a good CTR% is a sign of a good quality score and that is correct. But that doesn’t matter if you are not getting any conversions from it. Wouldn’t you rather have a lower CTR% and 10 Conversions, vs. a high CTR% and 1 conversion? Having both a high CTR% and many Conversions is the best of both worlds, but don’t rely on a good CTR% as a success. The only success is the sound of the cash register.

Misperception #4: Lots of Keywords and Negatives is a Good Thing
This one makes me crazy to no end. Having lots of keywords in a specific adgroup is a sign that it needs to be broken out into many other adgroups to improve on relevancy. If you have tons of Negative Terms, that is a sign that you are (1) not targeting the right audience or (2) not using the proper keyword matching options available to you. Just because you spent money on expensive keyword research tools does not mean you will make a return on that investment. In most cases, you will have 500 keywords running and at the end of the month, you might have like 10-20 that might actually perform well for you. Remember, you are trying to reach and identify potential customers, not everyone under the sun.

Misperception #3: Display/Content Network is a Waste
That may have been true 5 years ago, but not today. In a world of high competition and inflated CPCs, Google’s Display Network is “Prime Real Estate” right now for advertisers. Now it does NOT have the amazing targeting abilities such as LinkedIn and Facebook, but they do have the power of Remarketing as well as YouTube Targeting. Also, so Branding is making a comeback in PPC and is a must strategy that deserves a larger piece of the Ad Budget. The only downfall you may have with the Display Network is the person behind the Strategy and “day to day” management. Remember the days when your Content Network budget was consumed by a few Adult-Oriented or completely irrelevant sites which made you freak out and demonize the network? Well, perhaps it was a matter of Management and in today’s world it could be a potential goldmine for your business.

Misperception #2: It’s OK to Use PPC To Drive Traffic WITHOUT Conversion Tracking
Sorry to break it to you, but unless you just won the lottery and want to make a donation to provide more Filet Mignon’s and Italian Gelato to the Google Cafeteria Budget, I would never suggest to use PPC for just driving traffic and not monetizing anything. For every dollar you spend in PPC, Google has provided every advertiser with all of the tools needed to ensure that you know what is working and not working with your investment. Tip: Don’t be lazy, find someone to set this up. It’s worth it!

Misperception #1: Being Adwords Certified Means your an Expert:
Being Adwords Certified means only one thing. You have an idea on how to use the platform. Just because someone is Certified does not mean they can outsmart someone who is not Certified. This is probably one of the biggest issues in PPC today. Yes, the Certification provides some excellent best practices that are crucial to a successful campaign. I would rather hire someone with past experience than someone who just passed the exam. Here are just a few things that the Exam does not teach you:

• How to come up with a Good Strategy
• How to be Proactive and Reactive when it matters most
• How to deal with Client Management
• What to do when something goes wrong
• How to understand true ROI and Atrribution
• How to look at “Offline” influencers that affect PPC efforts
• How to deal with Affiliate and Resellers who are invading the advertisers space
• Shall I go on………..

In Conclusion:
Good PPC Marketing comes from experience, best practices and passion for doing the work. It also encompasses a strong dedication and loyalty to the client and/or company you are working for. Passing an Adwords Exam only show that you are either a Good Test Taker or you know how to use their platform. That is all it does. The key to success is how you use the platform and all of it’s bells and whistles to your client’s advantage.