Google Ad Rank Equation

Ad Rank = MAX BID X Quality Score

Why Not Have Ad Rank = Max BID?

If Ad Rank = Max Bid, the highest bidder will always win the auction, regardless of the quality of the Ad. If the highest bidder has a low quality (irrelevant) ad, then searchers will be unhappy with the results of the search query.

What Is Google’s Quality Score?

In order to maintain the integrity of the search engine and keep users/searchers happy, Google must show relevant ads with each search query. Enter Google’s Quality Score. Quality Score is a measurement (0-10 with 10 being the best) of how relevant your keyword is in respect to a corresponding text ad and to a users search query.

Google’s Quality Score Factors

Google’s quality score algorithm is a function of 3 primary factors:

1. Click Through Rate (CTR) - The percentage of clicks divided by ad impressions -This is the overwhelming majority of the QS algorithm.  One way for marketers to improve CTR is to write compelling ad copy.
2. Relevance - The semantic relevance of the keywords purchased and grouped together in an adgroup, then the ad that represents the keyword in the auction.
3. Landing Page – The keywords on the landing page must be relevant to the ad served.

Google Ad Rank Auction Example

It is important to note that the size of the advertising budget does not automatically win in Google’s Ad auction, unlike traditional methods of advertising, such as newspaper or radio ads.  If four advertisers bid on the same keyword phrase that is queried on Google, you will notice above that Advertiser A has the highest Bid for the keyword phrase ($8) and a very low Quality Score (2), thus falls to position 3.  Advertiser B bid $3 LESS than Advertiser A, but has a quality score of 4 (2 times higher than advertiser A Quality Score) and the highest Ad Rank of all four advertisers, therefore, Advertiser B gains position 1.

Summary of Google’s Ad Rank Ecosystem

Google’s goal is to make 3 audiences happy:

1. Users (searchers)
2. Advertisers (purchasing keywords from Google)
3. Google

In order to make Users happy, Google must match relevant ads to particular search queries. In order to make Advertisers happy, Google needs to match relevant ads to particular search queries so the advertiser can see a Return on Investment. As long as Users and Advertisers are happy, they will continue to search on Google and buy keywords on Google AdWords, thus making Google happy.

Google’s Chief Economist Hal Varian Demystifies Google Ad Rank

Here are some steps to take to start a Google AdWords Account and set up a successful Adwords Campaign:

Step 1. Create a Google AdWords Account

Go To http://adwords.google.com and register a Google AdWords Account!

Step 2. Set a Budget for a TEST Campaign

Identify a budget for a 30 or 60 day Test period. The budget must be high enough to generate adequate sample data in order to determine if the effectiveness of the campaign. If you set a budget too low, it will be difficult to qualify for the auction and generate ad impressions. Without Ad Impressions, there is no way of knowing the how effective your ad is.

Step 3. Determine The Goal of the Adwords PPC Campaign

Of the many reasons an advertiser would want to advertise via PPC Campaign, here are a few biggies:

• Transactions - B2C companies, like eCommerce companies are looking for visitors to purchase their products
• Leads - B2B Comapnies, like Software companies are looking to generate Leads for a sales team to follow up on
• Branding – Companies should own as much real estate as possible on Google to capture all searchers of that Brand. As you start to gain traction with your brand, competitors will purchase your brand name to try and capture some market-share.
• Video Views -If a company has determined that visitors that view the video have a higher probability of converting/purchasing, the goal may be to have visitors watch that particular video.
• RSS Subscribers – Companies are always looking to expand their reach. New content that is being syndicated to relevant readers can increase brand awareness, increase leads for B2B or increase traffic for monetizing a blog (ad impressions).

Step 4. Identify Keywords To Purchase

Once the budget and goal of the PPC Campaign is set, you will need to identify keywords to purchase.

Within your Google AdWords Account, Go To OPPORTUNITIES -> KEYWORD TOOL

In order to advertise on Google, you need to purchase keywords. Keywords are the foundation for all internet marketing efforts (PPC, SEO, SMO). Google’s Keyword Tool is conveniently built directly into Google Adwords. Google’s Keyword Tool allows you to type in keywords to get keyword suggestions and allows you to add websites to get keyword suggestions (use competitor websites for ideas).

How many keywords should you research? Since 20% of all search queries on Google are unique, the larger the list of keywords you research with, the more opportunities you will have to find specific and relevant keywords for your business! You don’t have to purchase every keyword, but you want to research as many variations of keywords as possible to identify a base of relevant keywords.

Advanced Tip: If you have google analytics set up on your website, go to your Google Analytics account -> Traffic Sources -> Keywords. Here you will find all of the search queries that generated organic clicks to your website over a customizable period of time.

Step 5. Group Semantically Relevant Keywords

Now that you have identified a list of relevant keywords to purchase, you will want to group those keywords semantically into Ad Groups. For Example, if you have a “Pet Store” in Boston, MA and you sell “Pet Supplies,” you should group those keywords and variations of those keywords into an Ad Group. Example Ad Group = {Pet Store Boston, Pet Store Boston MA, Pet Stores Boston, Pet Supplies Store Boston, Pet Supply Store Boston, Pet Supply Store Boston MA, Pet Supplies Boston MA}

Advanced Tip: Ad Groups should contain 5-10 semantically related keywords. If you are looking to group thousands, tens-of-thousands or hundreds-of-thousands of keywords, you may want to check out these 3 keyword grouping tools for efficient ppc advertising.

Step 6. Identify Match Types for your Keywords

Exact Match - Your advertisement will only be impressed upon the searcher if the keyword you purchase exactly matches the Google search query.

Phrase Match – Your advertisement will be impressed upon the searcher if the order of the search query and spelling of the search query match your keyword phrase but also contain another word. For Example, If I buy the keyword “Boston Pet Store” using phrase match and the searcher queries Google “Boston MA Pet Store” there is a chance my ad will be in that auction.

Broad Match – Google defaults to the broad match function when you are purchasing keywords. If you purchase the keyword “Pet” using Google’s broad match function, your advertisement may get into an auction for “pet dog” or “pet cat.” This can be expensive and not as targeted as an exact match or phrase match, so you run the risk of paying for irrelevant clicks.

Negative Keywords – This match type will ensure that your advertisement does not get impressed upon very broad, non-discriminant search queries, trademarks, or any word that you do not want your ad to show up for. For Example, if I own a pet store and sell pet supplies, but do not sell “pets,” then i am going to set a negative exact match keyword for “pet” and “pets.”

Step 7. Create New Text Ads For Each Ad Group

Here is where you need to be creative and come up with a compelling call to action that will entice a searcher to click on your ad. Your headline should have a keyword focus and come very close to exactly matching the search query. Description Line 1 and 2 should contain your call to action. The display URL should be your domain name of the destination URL and if you have enough room for a keyword in the page slug of the display URL then add a keyword. The destination URL is the actual URL that you are sending the searcher when they click on your ad. You should send the searcher to a landing page (a page on your website that is designed to convert a website visitor into a lead or customer). See the example text ad below.

Step 8. Check Campaign Settings: GEO Targeting & Networks

Are you limited to doing business in a local area (state, country, territory)? If so, you will only want your ads to run in that particular location. In order to adjust the location of your ads, go to your Campaign -> Settings -> Location. If you want to limit your ads to showing up on Google’s Search Engine and not the Display Network, you can un-check the “display” option in the “Networks” section (beneith the Location section).

Now that you know the basics on How to Start a Google Adwords Campaign, put your knowledge to the test! If you have been managing PPC Campaigns, how would you recommend starting a Google AdWords Campaign?

A Harvard professor, Dr. David McClelland, took on a 25-year research study into factors that contribute most to ones success. He stated that, holding constant for education, age, opportunities, and occupation, the most important factor in anyone’s success is their “reference group.”

Who am I to argue? With that in mind, let’s visit some of these aspects.

Have a Plan and Maximize Your Potential

We’ve all read and know enough about social networks, that it’s understood you can build outstanding communities. I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen to join social networks; while most are already doing so, many are not maximizing their true potential. Most will also lie about who they really are. We all embellish a little bit here and there, but after it’s all said and done, the real you will surface.

One thing we often forget to do when we network is to have a plan – a strategy. It seems everyone is joining networks because that’s what they’re supposed to do. Remember, however, when you join, it’s because your goal is to meet people who know more than you do.

• Your goal is to meet people that you are proud to associate with
• You goal is to meet people that can be your friends, associates and mentors
• Your goal is to meet people who can nurture and provide positive feedback
• Your goal is to meet people who are not afraid to tell you your ideas suck

With these ideas, you can now place people into categories: non-ambitious vs. ambitious, non-helpful vs. helpful and going nowhere vs. going places. The groups you choose to join will ultimately determine your success.

Stay Away from Mass Social Networking

If I had to sum up everything I’ve learned so far about social networking, I’d say stay away from the masses and the buzz. Some would argue, “How can you learn unless you join the big guns”, but I’ve noticed something about the big guns. After the love affair and awe is over, many lack the fundamental qualities I look for in a person or community. You become part of the sheep, being herded into buying their books or manifesto.

I’m not sure why or how it happens, but fame seems to do something to people, whether they’re in the political arena, entertainment or, yes, social media. They reach a certain status and something happens that turns me off. Maybe it’s their ego or their promises start to fall by the wayside. Either way, it’s my personal opinion that you should join mainly fresh and intelligent groups with credentials rather than famous-overnight telephone repairmen.

I know a lot of you are probably thinking I’m being very judgmental, but I have to admit, intelligence turns me on. Not fame, not whom they know, but what’s deeper than their marketing department has thought up over the weekend.

I happened on a blog over the weekend that really touched on this aspect. I’m not going to get into it, but suffice it to say, everyone reading their blog thought they came up with this “genius” idea. What was sad and, yes, frustrating, is they didn’t. They merely copied someone else and didn’t have the decency to give credit where credit was due.

Social Networking Done Right

A good example I can share with you is Jeffrey Daniel and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk. For years, the world always thought it was MJ’s creation; it still gives Michael Jackson credit, in fact. Guess what, people? Jeffrey Daniel created the “moonwalk”, which he called the “backslide”. Granted, if it weren’t for Michael the world would’ve never seen this dance step, embraced it or tried to copy it. My point, however, is that I would have liked to know the origin. It’s the right thing to do.

Social networking, when done for the right reasons, can fulfill your societal needs. Not only will you get to know some great people but also, they’ll get to know you. It can broaden your perspective and ultimately open doors of opportunities you’ve never considered. It can increase the number of people who respect you and recommend you. It gives you more control of your business goals. It fulfills your basic human need for social interaction and establishing friendly relationships.

Ultimately, social networking can become one of the most fulfilling and beneficial aspects of your job.

How it Works

1. Each day, they email a newsletter and feature on their homepage ONE steeply discounted gift certificate to something food and beverage related.
2. If you like the daily deal, then buy away! The sale only lasts between 24-72 hours and is available in limited quantities so act quickly. And remember – the discounted gift certificate is only valid if enough people buy so tell all your friends about it!
3. When the deal is over, they email you a gift certificate to print and use at the partnering business where you’ll get way more than what you paid for.

Q&A with Founder Danny InBundles

I had the chance to interview Danny InBundles, who is the creator and founder of the new daily deal website, to learn a little bit more about his inspiration for starting InBundles.com

1.  What made you start Inbundles?

I’ve worked in food and beverage my entire life. It’s a passion of mine. I started InBundles to help restaurants reach out to new customers while giving  customers the chance to try restaurants at a lower price. Then, restaurants get the opportunity to convert new customers into regulars.

2.  What differentiates yourself from places like Groupon and LivingSocial?

I really like what Groupon and LivingSocial do to promote lots of different local businesses, but interspersing highly volatile food and beverage operations with businesses like bootcamp fitness gyms, laser hair removal clinics, spas and the like doesn’t do the restaurants justice. These businesses need to monitor their image closely. InBundles offers deals at F&B operations only because they benefit more by being presented with like businesses — unless you’re the owner of the first Brazilian bikini wax steakhouse, in which case it makes more sense.

3.  I noticed currently you cater to mainly restaurants in New York. Do you plan on opening Inbundles to other cities and businesses in the near future?

For now, InBundles is strictly in New York City, but we plan to launch in other cities. We also plan to branch out to other sectors of the food and beverage industry like bakeries, wine stores, cooking courses and more. These businesses and events go hand in hand with restaurant deals.

4.  What is the process if someone wants to get started?

We keep the interaction as simple as possible on both the diner and merchant sides of things. To buy a bundle, users simply create an account, purchase and print their bundle, and use it at the participating merchant. It’s just like any other gift certificate. For the restaurant, we write the editorial and create and sell the corresponding gift certificate. If the restaurant is prepared for the influx of customers, all they have to do is expect a check in the mail.

5..What are some local marketing tips you have learned to help restaurants owners gain more customers?

I always tell restaurants to think outside of their neighborhood. While the neighborhood customer base is crucial, there’s potential to attract customers from elsewhere. Restaurant owners should make the effort to reach out and educate diners no matter where they live. Just last week, I took a 45 minute train out to Queens for Thai food.  The smells alone made the trip worth it, but I’ll definitely go back for the food.

For example, consider these two pages from a Marketing Experiments case study:

Here you can see a drastically different approach where the Treatment keeps the call to action above the fold and is more visually appealing. However, testing is vital because in this test the control outperformed the treatment by over 50%.

Once you’ve got the design created, post it to your website under a new URL like www.yoursite.com/test.html. Then move on to Step 3.

Step 3: Set up Google Website Optimizer

Go to Google.com/WebsiteOptimizer and sign in with your Google account info (or create an account, they’re free). You want to select the first option for an A/B experiment. You’ve already created the alternative, so check the box at the bottom and click next. Now you’ll just follow the instructions provided by Google (or email them to your website guy) to get your first test up and running.

For Detailed Instructions on setting up an A/B or Multivariate test check out Fundamentals of A/B and Multivariate Testing.

Watch out for the snake-oil salesman that will tell you whatever it takes to get you to sign on the dotted line.  Just like anything, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.  Internet Marketing takes time, effort, and money…don’t let an agency fool you into thinking that you pay them and its a silver bullet to massive amounts of leads/sales.

Pretty Powerpoint Presentations

I know some clients love to be wow’ed with fancy presentations that makes everything seem like the agency/company knows what they are talking about.  But do they really?  Unfortunately if you have never worked with the agency/company before you will not know until the strategy is suppose to go into action.

For client, don’t be amazed just because their powerpoint has cool transitions between slides.

Real Case Studies

From an agency standpoint, its easy for them to promise you the world and “talk the talk”.  To a client, they don’t know…they just want someone they can trust and that will lead them in the right direction.  Unfortunately that doesn’t always happen, so clients, make sure you ask the agency for REAL case studies of similar businesses they have done what they are setting out to do for you.

Get Specifics

If an Internet Marketing strategy calls for content creation, link building, and social media outreach, get the details of how its going to get done.

1. Who is going to create the content?
2. How often is content going to created?
3. How is that content going to be promoted?
4. Who is building links?  What tactics are we using to build links?
5. What social media outlets are we going to use?
6. Who will be involved in engaging socially?
7. When should we start to see results?

Good Communication

Probably the next most important thing next to the actual execution is communication.  Having good internal communication as well as between the agency and client is huge.  If after the first meeting you iron out the details of the strategy, there are going to have to be check-points or updates on where things are going.

Especially for larger organizations there are going to be a lot more moving parts, which means better communication on how each piece of the strategy is coming together.

Steps to Getting Down to Business

1. Why: Know why you are carrying out the strategy that you are.  The goals and objectives should be written out for everyone to see and easy to understand.  If certain dates or tasks were promised, make sure they are in writing, in case you have to go back to them in the future.
2. Who: Who will be executing your strategy? This is extremely important!  What if a agency charges you $25,000 for a new website, which they never told you that they were going to turn that project over to a group in India who will do a half-assed job for $4,500.  How about a Social Media strategy and execution that gets passed off to the new hire straight out of college with no experience?  The moral of the story…know exact who is going to be working on what you agreed upon.
3. When: Set realistic deadlines for key project milestones. I understand that tasks and deadlines get pushed back or moved up, but have at least a good idea as to when certain milestones should be completed.  This will help all parties stay on task and shoot for a goal.
4. What: What needs to be accomplished?  This is probably the MOST important part.  Again, it goes back to getting things done.  What exactly needs to get done and how are the two parties going to delegate responsibilities.  IMPORTANT:  If one of the parties does not fulfill their end of the strategy or delays the project, it can have a domino affect for the entire project. The bottom line is to hold people accountable…this includes the client.

Zac Johnson’s affiliate blog is one of the best resources for making money online through blogging, site promotion, and affiliate marketing.  The eBook he is giving away for free explains all of his secrets on how you can make a six figure income by blogging and marketing affiliate products.  This is a great roadmap for creating a brand, driving traffic and replicating the process.

John Chow:  Blog Profit Camp

Basically the king of Affiliate Marketing, John Chow provides the Ultimate Blog Profit Model to create the greatest money making machine. John explains his process for how he makes $40.000/month and you can to.  This eBook goes into details on beginner blogger tips, wordpress tips, content generation, and loads of monetization ideas.

The Launch Coach: Launch Coach Library

Dave Navarro, aka the Launch Coach offers a number of free PDF downloads that give you tips for launching a product and making money.  Everything from a product launch checklist, to generating multiple revenue streams, to marketing your products.

Blog Mastermind: Blog Profits Blueprint

Yaro Starak talks about how to earn $5,000/month from your blog with working as little as 2 hours per day.  In his eBook, Blog Profits Blueprint he teaches important skills in order to build multiple streams of income by marketing products through your blog.

Winning The Web: Proven Internet Marketing Strategies

The Winning Way is a 118 page eBook jam packed with awesome content including a checklist of 500+ proven Internet Marketing strategies.  Gyutae Park talks about lots of ways to drive traffic and increase your visibility on the web, including:

• Optimize your website like the SEO pros without having to pay thousands of dollars for consulting.
• Discover creative new ways to build links that drive huge amounts of traffic and catapult your search rankings in Google.
• Explode your blog readership and gain a loyal following of fans who give you your undivided attention.
• Generate traffic through little-known strategies in social media, local search, PPC, multimedia, and guerilla marketing.
• Finally monetize your traffic and make money online – your first step towards financial freedom.
• And much much more, all for FREE.

DailyBlogTips: Make Money Blogging

The free eBook titled simply, Make Money Blogging is a compilation of Daniel Scocco’s experiences with blogging to make money.

What the Book Covers:

• The three mistakes that bloggers make when choosing a niche.
• The three characteristics of good content.
• Why your content strategy should have one cornerstone.
• The two factors that create magnetic headlines (and how to apply them).
• A deadly mistake that bloggers make when designing their blogs.
• Practical tips that you can use to network efficiently.
• A promotional strategy that most people forget to use.
• The two requirements for making money with Google AdSense.
• The best trick available to make money with CPM deals.

…
Read more

B2B marketing is different than B2C, typically involving larger volumes and smaller targets. B2B is mainly centered on transactions of unfinished products from one company to another, the transfer of goods from wholesalers to retailers, or just marketing of raw materials to potential customers. B2B marketing may also be used for social marketing of tangible or intangible goods. As well, it’s important to search out new marketing opportunities, of which there are more and more each year.

A common rule…

One common rule for B2B and B2C marketing is that the content of the marketing website or the blogs used to promote the product should be excellent. This is a paramount rule in all businesses, whether the focus is on other businesses, individual customers, or organizations like the government. With business to business, this has to go one step further. It’s not enough to just state the utilities of a finished product, as is done while offering a product to the end consumer.

The B2B marketer’s duty…

Whether it’s social marketing or marketing of consumer durables at various stages of completion, the B2B marketer has a duty to tell other businesses how they can continue the chain and profit from the product on a long-term basis. The other company needs to build a lasting relationship based on the information provided in the blog or at the site and, as such, the data provided there should be highly analytical. Where a blog is used for the purpose, the blog must have a link that leads to the corporate site, which provides exhaustive details of the product’s possibilities and business potential.

Researching target companies…

The B2B market is typically small, so the marketer can afford to do a little research on target companies. Target companies can be located through Internet searches and well known social networking sites, among other places. Once the target companies are identified, direct email marketing can also be utilized for each company, streamlining the content differently in each mail, if necessary, to satisfy the expectations of the target company.

Choosing the Right Keywords

While choosing keywords, a B2B marketer has to remember that different people from the target businesses might search for companies like his. For example, if he is marketing a machine part, those from the engineering team of the company may search for it using a particular keyword, whereas those in their financial team could use a slightly different keyword to get at the same thing. So while doing B2B marketing, the marketer will have to produce the same information after dressing it up in different ways with different keywords.

The keyword may also need to be changed in B2B marketing after a certain stage, since the selling cycle could be fairly long. What is relevant in the early stages of the selling may not be equally important at a later stage. The rule applies in relation to social marketing as well.

The B2B Start Up Business

With a B2B start up business, the challenges are more or less the same as for any other business. The main difference is that they cannot expect results as fast as in a B2C business. In a B2C business, even a single visit can sometimes generate a sale (though not always). With a B2B start up business, a single visit from a prospective client is unlikely to generate a sale. The client will need to know too many things before they will enter into a relationship, and one complete cycle of transaction may take much more time than B2C marketing.

B2B marketing experiments can be conducted by focusing on a small group of businesses and testing the results, then widening the focus if the experiment turns out to be successful. Ideally, whether it’s a start up business or not, companies should not hesitate to be innovative with B2B marketing. Not all new strategies may be successful, but it’s often found that demand generation is achieved in totally unexpected ways.