Promediacorp

web development ⌘ search engine marketing ⌘ social media

Promediacorp is a team of online marketing strategists who provide a full range of services to enterprise level corporations.
Our services are intended to help your customers find you on the web, resulting in enhanced visibility, greater conversions, and increased revenue.
We manage search marketing campaigns across many industries, specializing in real estate, luxury brands, and tech.

Web Analytics & Measuring Success Overview

by Avi Wilensky

Filed under: Analytics, SES San Jose 07

This is a transcript of the live session in San Jose, August 20, 2007. Subject to typographical errors.

How do you know if you’ve been successful with search engines? You can check your “rank” at search engines for particular keywords, analyze log files to see the actual terms people used to reach your web site or make the ultimate jump and “close the loop” by measuring sales conversions and return-on-investment (ROI). This panel explores ways to measure success and what statistics you should really care about.

Moderator:

 

Speakers:

 

Matthew Baily:

Old school metrics vs. new school metrics. Old school = hits, top 10 keywords, top 10 pages, to him it’s BS. Doesn’t tell the full picture.

SEO: If you cant be found, you dont exist. Same with usability. Usability - if they cant find a conversion point on the site - not there. Analytics tells us what happens and how to improve it.

Goals: Every site needs goals. A primary goal. People need to go thru a process to convert, unless its a 2 page site. Action is made of macroactions, tiny steps. Navigation, etc. All these little things that add up. Thats where analytics is key. How can we improve the process. Where are the microactions stopping people from getting from point A to point B.

Only by segmenting traffic will you undersrtand whats happening. Can understand analytics by looking at his Star Trek example - 59 deaths in 5 years of the show. Thats a 13% conversion rate. Yellow shirt that trekies that died wore 10%, blue shirts - 7.2%, etc. Why? What is the reasoning for this. You want to figure out what improves conversion rate.

Principal of segmention: Only by doing this can you understand what factors that are causing actions on the site. We have intelligence that gives us the answers. Take these factors and apply them to site. Need conversion rates based on different users and searchers and search queries. Can figure out where you are losing visitors, gaining conversions. You need to break up traffic into different areas. Tie $ to actions.

Three C’s of analytics: #’s must be put in context - need backing , a situation. Thats why hits, time on site, are BS. Need to compare segments to eachother. Comparison- once segmented, you can compare and contrast and find problems. Especially if you are doing well in one segment and not the other. Tells you what to change and what to avoid.

Key performance indicators: What do you want buyers to do? Conversions, time on site, etc. When you look at it by segment - things look clear. If someone came searching for X, and bouncing, it gives us intelligence. He likes to segment based on keywords and keyword groups. Compares major groups against eachother. Did they come from blogs? Social news? Search? Break this down, and compare and contrast.

A case study: People that entered from homepage, lower conversion rate than thru subpage. Makes sense. Also found 404 error pages for #2 keyword. You need analytics to see these, and segmentation is key. Segment conversion names from brand name searches - do they have a higher CR? Gives focus to optimization!

Engagement factors: Look at how people found site and compare metrics. Keywords, Referrers, Ads - measure CR’s, PV’s, Time on Site. In case study - social news / social media brought 0 conversions, but lots of traffic.

How traffic compares: Blogs and articles do well for him - its like word of mouth. Topical search - pretty well engaged. Social news - competing against others - audience its more time wasting. So this forces us to look at links bringing the most sales, and find context of the link. It’s the context of the link that sets up expectation. It’s a competition for attention. You have many links competing for attention. If you get a link on a blog - you get people’s attention and the conversions will be high. More link juice + context is crucial.

START WITH A QUESTION! QUESTIONS MAKE ANALYTICS SUCCESSFUL. Measure each segment, compare and contrast the results, put the results in context, focus on business value!

Lionel L. (sitting in for Dean) from Fathom.

How do you measure success and what stats should you watch? Quick answer = technology. Not the complete answer. In fact, in his opinion, cannot automate marketing profitable. No setting and forgetting for optimization. Technology is just a piece of the process. Here to understand web analytics. Goal is to provide with some clarity and guidence how best to revisit your numbers, and take a look at it differently.

First place to start is a definition: A term that is losely used by marketers to cover A-Z. According to WAA its the trackin, collection, measurement, reporting, and alaysis of quantitive internet data to optimize websirtes and web marketing initiatives. A little short sighted, because in his opionon there needs a more robust opinion. One focused on ROI, not just quantative analysis. A paradigm shift for marketers - you need to connect the Silos. The cross channels - the TV, offline media, etc. At the end we are striving for max profitibility.

Analytics is time consuming and difficult. 82% Don’t know what it is - organizations struggle with the topic. Many are too busy to manage / monitor it. About Half struggle with the tools- w/ 2 years experience. It’s confusing because theres too much info to collect. We are trying to reach billions across multiple channels - there’s search, emerging platforms - mobile, gaming, 2.0 sites - YouTube, social media, 3rd party ad servers - Atlas, etc. And CRM. Too much data to close loop entirely. That said, we need to consider technology that reaches beyond visits, click streams, and other ways to collect market information. Analytics measures all marketing, not just online marketing. Brick and mortar + offline advertising + sales teams, call centers, etc. are all part of the mix.

Most of us look at one silo at a time - search, tv, email. We need to collect info across all channels and make it actionable. First question is what data do we need to make great decisions to produce great results. Few measure all this and connect the silos. Many marketers cannot or do not measure ROI. Third party tracking is key to integrating your marketing programs for analysis. We can use techniques, such as call tracking, etc.

Conversion funnel analysis. Evaluate keywords for both paid and unpaid data. Analytics tells us to make decisions how much to spend on paid ads. Gives us the tool to make investment decisions.

How do we get started? Before we can extract any data, we need to start with the basics. Test theories. Need a plan and tie it back to marketing objectives. What will give you efficiency and profibility. User patterns. Correlation between offline and online activity. Can’t track all of it, but technologies are emerging. It’s about OBJECTIVES not metrics. Identify what data is available and not available. Regularly work with the data. Can’t put it on a shelf. Can’t automate this stuff. Continuous process.

What stats should we care about? Every organization is unique and has it’s own objectives. At the end, what counts is that the data goals align with business goals. Depends on the business. Proper upfront work - find out what metrics are available.

Continuous cycle of monitoring, reporting, and analyzing. Key is to use tools to spend time in the data. Think beyond the CTR. Make sure tools are flexible to measure data sources - PPC, SEO, CRM, Call Center, etc.

Laura Thieme:

Searc, site, blog, and social media analytics. Landscape is changing in what you need to track. Is your data accurate - organic vs. paid - comes up alot. Autotagging, etc. What does your KPI matrix look like? Are you using Google Analytics and another tool or just one?

New Google Analytics and Bounce Rate Obsessions.

Basic Paid Search KPI - your basic dashboard - ad console. Any variation based on what you’ve customized. Advanced KPI s - deeper - CPA, Cost Profit, Net Profit, ROI, ROAS. Not always possible. They need 27 tools to service 5 clients!

Recommends book: Managing Customers as Investments  Sunil Gupta. The value of customers in the long run.

Do a checkup on tracking URL’s and tagging. What about Autotagging - some people are told by Google that Autotagging does everything that you need. Wish there was a standard. Are you 100% confident that everything is accurate? Are you tracking spider activity? Google can index content within hours. Don’t believe the 3-6 months myth. Latency, ROAS, competition. Webposition Gold tells you whose next to you - competitive analysis.

When to run ranking reports? They do biweekly. Automatic schedule reports in PDF is nice. Need to look at bounce rate by KW - otherwise meaningless.

Clicktracks funnel reports slide. Shows the microactions in visual. Darker pages are most persuasive. Heat maps. Case studies and company profile is where the most important for us.

Top traffic drivers were blog entries to her site.  Bloggers have such an effect on SEO in her opinion. Double traffic by blogging, but bounce rate is up. Obscure off topic queries giving 100% bounce rates.

Tracking is like solving a crossworld puzzle. Can be time consuming, time wasting as well. Time is money. Not everyone is good at crossword puzzles.

Agencies are more willing to invest in this. Be willing to spend time discussing the findings. Influence what your clients think.

Write comment August 21, 2007 11:42 am

Advanced Paid Search Techniques

by Avi Wilensky

Filed under: Adwords, PPC, SES San Jose 07

Advanced Paid Search Techniques
How can you best tap into long tail terms? Are there targeting techniques you’re overlooking? This session examines these and other techniques to help you get more out of paid search.

Moderator:

 

  • Danny Sullivan, Conference Co-Chair, Search Engine Strategies San Jose

Speakers:

 

Eduardo Llach:

 

Talking about multivariate targeting w/ Online Dating: CTR in NYC can be different than Denver. What they do is if the conversion rate is higher in one market, go deeper.

 

Geotargetting -uses IP address - all AOL users come from Virginia - problematic. Country mapping is 100% accurate. State mapping is 50% accuracy, City mapping is 30% accuracy. Still need nationwide if running on a state level, not to miss 50% of searchers. Large variation for basic products - different cities have different conversion rates. Income level of city is a factor.

Run a campaign nationwide, then replicate on city level - can get major difference in conversion rates from different cities.

 

Day of week, time - if conversion rate is higher, bid higher. If conversion rate goes up on Tuesdays, bid higher on Tuesdays. For different industries, time is a factor. Finance is busiest on Mondays.

Creative and Landing Pages. It’s all about mixing up all the variables.

Jon Kelly:

Topic: Long Tail Keywords & Geo Targetting

Shows the standard head / tails keyword search curve.  Shows example of long term word “Topeka home loan rates”. These small phrases add up. There is clearer intention, better conversion, and less competition  - which means lower bids.

Three Action Steps: Calculate click value 2) reward users choices 3) whats champaign data.

For a low volume phrase - how do you calculate probality of conversion? What’s the value if they do turn into a consumer? You need to model your market.  Geography, Product (auto insurance), and Request - rates? company? comparison? In retail maybe brand, color, and size. You need to model marketing.

Keyword bucketing: Put similar keywords in same bucket. Bad strategy because you lose some information. The right way to do it is to think of your keywords as tags - like tagged photos. Tag phrases. City phrases have poorer conversion than state conversions in his business. Figure out what a lead is worth - one way is by geography. Use tags to calculate lead value.

Reward the user’s choices: You don’t have to read minds when working with tail keywords. Give a targeted landing page for the individual query. You can still get a leg up in competitive markets if you tag keywords and create compelling landing pages.

City Phrases or Brand Phrases? City phrases are problematic because they are also brand phrases. “Tampa Bay Mortgage” is a company/brand and city modifier. Dual intent. Watch out for this.

Homynyms: “Mobile Home Loans” - also dual intent. Mobile Alabama, and mobile homes.

State phrases: In Texas the click volume was higher than Florida, and Texas is more populated? Was strange case. Turned off state targeting - then did individual markets. Problem was Houston. Traffic spikes in Houston, and conversion dips. Found it by looking at outliers and things that don’t make sense date. Geotargetting works well if you look at your data and see where conversions are low and what to do about it.

Matt VanWagner:

Talks about DKI - Dynamic Keyword Insertion

Claims: Pros - improves CTR, QS, Improves ad relevance

Cons: Loss control of add

DKI Ads Gone Wild. Searched “used fish” - you can compare used fish prices on dealtime and pricegrabber. We’ve all seen these. Sometimes the ad just said “used”.

What is DKI - at it’s core - it’s essential away to customize ads and save time.  It’s an “insert keyword here” feature. Helps the information scent in many cases. Transforms generic ads into custom ads.

How does it work? Google - “Starbucks” - if you can get it in the ad and bypass the TM - get the keyword bolded. The DKI word needs to get data from the keyword list, not just from the query. If it’s too long, defaults to another ad.

Can use all types of capilization schemes. Can violate Google’s own ad policy by making ads all caps. Like PPC is a good example - looks better than Ppc. Good example to use DKI is with caps. Good for state abbreviations. In broad match, need to make sure order of words is proper - “Red Sneakers”.

Yahoo - didn’t need DKI until Panama - called - Dynamic text. On Yahoo can’t buy plural and singular of a word. Might cause problems. Yahoo gives more leaway with casing. In Advanced match - word order is important.

DKI works best around Adgroups tightly organized - Red Sneakers, Blue Sneakers, etc. Or you have one dominant word like “camera”. Less successful in a conception campaign - like getting an emotional message. Also less successful for branding.

Final Thought: Does improve CTR - YES. QS - NO, Relevance - Yes and No.

Michael Sack:

Three strategies: Day Parting,  Hi - Lo Optimization, Portfolio.

Dayparting: Best when you have competive market conditions, limited sales windows, identifiable dempgraphic targets by time, and business capabilities - like a call center. Also patterns in conversion that suggest to daypart.

You need good analytics and ability to track keywords on hourly basis. Need the ability to plot performance against time using analytics, and ability to adjust bids based on data.

Can automate dayparting with rule based portfolios based on performance.

Hi Lo Optimization is a theory based on analysis that suggest most phases have a high performance window. Works by setting a high bid for a defined period of time, and all other times bid is set to minimum. Requires higher level of analytical capability. Looking for small windows of time to bid super agressively, and then bid normally other times.  Heatmaps can shows high impact ROI times.

Portfolio PPC management as an advanced strategy. It’s a strategy to minimize keyword management. De-risks market fluctuation, requires large groups of keywords. Treat keywords like stocks or investments. Look at cost, return, risk, performance tracking, market behavior. Keywords are an investment. You know the performance, and try to achieve goals based on results. Bidding is like playing blackjack. Question is do you take a hit on 17 or stand. And there is always someone that doesn;’t know how to play - and they play stupid. Uneducated PPC marketers change the table. Ego bidding - like being #1. Drives the CPC up. They ruin the landscape.  So we need to put keywords into portfolios - like mutual funds. You have many eggs in different baskets. Not tied to a single investment. Diversification - lets you chose tail terms - and don’t want to manage hundreds of thousands of bids. Use porfolios to bid more effectively.

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Write comment August 20, 2007 5:04 pm

Getting Traffic From Contextual Ads

by Avi Wilensky

Filed under: Adcenter, Adsense, Branding, Contextual, SES San Jose 07

This is a transcript of the live session in San Jose, August 20, 2007. Subject to typographical errors.

Getting Traffic From Contextual Ads
You know about search targeted listings, where your ad shows up based on the keywords someone enters into a search engine. But what about contextual ads, where paid listings show up based on the content of what someone is reading? Programs exist to let you easily move search ads into a contextual environment. But should you? This session offers tips and advice for those coming at these offerings from a search marketing perspective.

Moderator:

 

Speakers:

 

 

This is a transcript of the live session in San Jose, August 20, 2007. Subject to typographical errors.

 

Anton Konikoff:

 

Keywords are the direct proxy for customer needs. It’s the key to marketing to them effectively. Decode the intent behind the keyword, and create powerful marketing messages.

 

Common ways in which people behave online: Informational, We click on links that contain keywords, look for keyword matches in written content using keywords.

 

Demos site about Pink Floyd. Shows how the engine scans the page and finds ad matches. Sometimes theres a clear match, sometimes they fall short. Shows a news article that has a mix of relevant and irrelevant ads. Pages that are up longer, Google can understand better and serve better ads. News has harder time since its fresh content.

 

Contextual does not work as well as search is the most common understand. Why should we play in contextual? Contextual ads give us another layer of customer intelligence, and target them better. We know where the ad appears, so we can understand the meaning behind a word and target customers much better. Context has 2 components :verbal context, and social context. Same content but audience is different. The context in which the ads appear redefines the messaging.

 

When is contextual appropriate? There is only so much affordable inventory of keywords. Contextual expands that universe. Broader reach. Great for awareness building. Millions of free impressions in many cases, and only pay for clicks. Tremendous exposure for branding but also good for direct response. Also a vehicle to supercharge a press release. When ads get syndicated, your ads will be next to your releases. Helps also exclude competitors targeting the words.

 

In aggregate, 40% of traffic to Acronym clients sites comes from contextual. Some countries its up to 90%. It’s all about the broad reach. Other providers are Industry Brains, Quigo, Pulse 360, Ask, ContextWeb, and Vibrant Media are the leaders. Look at the providers beyond Google and Yahoo that can get you on unique sites and also great value.

 

Most campaigns target on an ad group level. Important to be very granular. Use few keywords - tight keyword groups. Use exact and phrase match frequently. Always track contextual seperate from search campaigns.

 

Keyword choices for contextual - use paid search terms that are getting good results. Also must use negative keywords to be more relevant. Excluding sites is also very important. Day-parting, and ad copy - also essential. Ad copy is more essential. Can use all types of media - rich media, banners, video, flash, etc.

 

In the contextual world, people tend to be in the beginning of the buying stage. Use different creatives within the same campaign. Search - can still appear high up without paying so much. On contextual, theres less real estate. Once your in the blocks - the actual position makes less difference than on the search side - in his opinion.

 

For Adsense, key is relevancy on the adgroup level, not the keyword level. Quality score is relevant to position - CTR is not as relevant whether you will appear on other sites.

 

Always a risk of ads appearing next to less than favorable content. His client - Four Seasons is so protective of brand, will not play in contextual space. Doesn’t want to cheapen brand.

 

Click fraud is always an issue. Some say more in contextual space.

 

Understand how contextual programs work. Sign up as a publisher - join Adsense, and experiment. Learn all the options and tools available to publishers.

 

How do you measure success? Same metrics - CPA. But CTR is irrelevant! Not looking to increase CTR. Yes its good for ad position, but not a good metric to compare to search. Look at above the fold impressions.

 

Lora Parker:

 

Yahoo: Over 90% of time online is not on a search engine. How do we target them while they are gaming, emailing, outside of search? Content is a great way to do it.

 

Case Study: Electronics Global Brand - Ecommerce. Goal was to drive sales through contextual. Took all search keywords vs. contextual to see how they would play. 5% of budget was allocated to test. Heavy on brand keywords. Results - 25% higher ROAS than search. 8% of total revenue. Exception case.

 

Next client, Education client. Very competitive. Not a brand known client. Goal was lead generation. Top keywords on search and launched on content. 1% was used as a test. 50% lower conversion rate than search - but expected - different stage of cycle. Also, seasonal - so launched during peak season.

 

Financial Services Client - well known brand. Goal to drive leads at < $30. Launched with all keywords. After 2 weeks, optimized campaign. 10% of budget. Results - 18% new customers via contextual vs. 23% search. A successful campaign, and continues to run.

 

Retail: Used many brand keywords. 5% of budget allocated. Saw impressions increase 4X, Clicks up by 15%, store locator hits increased by 15%. Campaign ROAS was not met, so discontinued program.

 

Software: Goal, drive downloads. Launched with all brand terms. 10% budget allocated. Didn’t meet goals on ROAS, but downloads increased.

 

Travel: Very competitive space, goals - traffic and sales. Tested across all categories - air, travel, package deals. Optimize after 1 week. 10% allocated. Conversion rate was lower, but CPC was much lower than search. Content is on, but with top performing categories - Air.

Results. Converion rate 30% lower, but lower CPCs. Set expectations first. Again, different state of buying cycle. Great to be in content match because get many impressions. TEST TEST TEST keywords. Start with brands and high converting non brand terms. Optimize landing pages. And it’s more than just Google! On average 5-10% of budget is allocated to Content Match.

Gopi Kallayil:

 

$3.3 billion dollars shared to Publishers on Adsense. There must be value in continuing spending. Daily basis you should measure ROAS and optimize it.

Why he likes Contextual Advertising: Tells story about potwashing faucets. Had a project on this topic. Needed to do research on it. So went to a Potwashing faucet site, and next to that were ads from manufacturers and an add from an installer. When looking at a topic, you have a few seconds of awareness and receptive to certain messages. Beauty of contextual. Again, only 5% of time is spent on search. 35% of time spend reading online articles and topics. Another story about BIRD DIAPERS. Knows a couple who came up with this product. Ran ads for such an obscure market. People come back to same sites on topics, and if you can target them, contextual advertising allows you to find that unique 500 people that you can target.

Natalla Menezes:

MSN content ads currently in pilot. Primarily pages owned by MSN.

Key is price. Multiple controls to set price at keyword level or Adword level. Network is expanding. Also offers reporting on how ads are performing. Separate content and search stats. The true differentiater is building a quality network. First time giving advertisers option to advertise on MSN without banners which is super expensive. Also focused on ROI focused reporting. Deliver for advertisers qauality results - sometimes contextual has outperformed search. Verticals spent time on are technology, finance, and health care.

Product launches next week - all Adcenter adgroups will have content match. Can opt out. Still in BETA because still diversifiying and expanding inventory. Questions - natalam@microsoft.com.

Q&A:

Chris Boggs: We’ve all experience content match turned on with Adwords and losing money. Why is MSN opt out and not opt in? And also, Google - will the content match be on by default for along time?

Natalla: They see it as a critical component of what online advertising is about. Had internal debates.

Gopi: Control is key. The whole industry is changing to be more targetted, also transparency - knowing where ads are going.

Rand Fishkin: Natalla- will I see the URL if I log into Adcenter?

Natalla: Everyone will get an email, also on the blog.

Rand Fishkin: Are conversions better on MSN content like on MSN search?

Natalla: Performance has been awesome and now it’s cheap./

Rand Fishkin: How representative are the numbers you shown. Do you have an option.

Anton: The averaqe is meaningless. Depends on the client. Key is smart management.

Avi Wilensky: Can you share some big publishers that have joined the network off the MSN domain?

Natalla: Facebook, Digg, but mostly MSN properties.

Avi Wilensky: Will site targetting be supported at launch, or is a future upgrade?

Natalla: A future upgrade as the network grows, probably this fall.

Sessions ends with click fraud discussions.

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Write comment August 20, 2007 12:22 pm
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