Image Credit: Durapitchmound.com
On April 22, 2010 Alex Rodriguez ran across the pitcher’s mound on his way back to first base after a foul ball. He should have known that he had just broken one of the unwritten rules of baseball. Only the pitcher should touch the pitcher’s mound during play. I’m sure sports fans remember the rant that Oakland pitcher Dallas Braden directed towards A-rod afterwards. This got me thinking. There are unwritten rules for just about everything. Cell phones: Don’t text while having a face-to-face conversation. Driving: Turn off your high beams for oncoming traffic. Dating: never go out with a friend’s ex. The list can go on and on. As I thought more and more about it, I eventually applied the theory to work and began to think about the top few unwritten rules of PPC. (more…)
Ever since Google first released impression share statistics at the campaign level in AdWords, PPC professionals have been clamoring for similar statistics at more granular levels. During recent discussions with Google representatives, they mentioned that they are actively working on ad group level impression share. Additionally, as Melissa Mackey pointed out on Twitter recently, Google has apparently released keyword level impression share to several very large advertisers. So while we less important PPC’ers continue to wait patiently (or impatiently) for at least ad group level impression share statistics similar to the current campaign level, here’s a little workaround for viewing ad group level impression share. (more…)
As a potential client, it is in your best interest to know whether you’re about to hire a PPC dream team or just another run of the mill PPC management agency. From the other end of the spectrum, as a PPC Kingpin (or Director of PPC if you prefer) it is equally important to assemble your very own PPC dream team. In order to not only attract, but also retain clients it is in your best interest to surround yourself with the brightest and most hard working PPC’ers around.
Intelligence and hard working does not necessarily equate to big name, flashy free agents though. The building of a PPC dream team relies heavily on the “draft” and increasingly difficult player development. In addition, a skill set that goes beyond one single “position” is critical to the success of your client’s performance and the PPC dream team itself. As a result, here are some guidelines to assembling your own PPC dream team. (more…)
Recently, in a PPC Chat, the me
rits of both in-house PPC management and hiring a third party PPC agency to do PPC management was thoroughly discussed. By the end of the discussion/debate I was convinced the in-house argument didn’t hold water. Since I work for DragonSearch, an agency, one would think I hold a bias, but I tried very hard to listen to the merits of in-house PPC management. While there are certainly some good points to be made about in-house PPC management, an agency clearly has an edge. In particular, there were at least six reasons why I think a company should hire a PPC management company over hiring in-house. (more…)
Don't call him Chicken!
We all know about the metrics that reign supreme in measuring an Adwords account’s productivity. We love our CTRs, CPCs, Conversion Rates, Visits, Impression Share, and Average Position… Measuring these stats and keeping a close eye on them is what ensures a good quality account. In my opinion these are most of the top stats we as PPC campaign managers depend on in keeping the account tight. So I digress, and begin to ask myself what other “stats” are important? Like a broken clock, I keep coming to the same answer. That answer is Ad Copy McFly. Ad copy really ought to have some concrete guidelines that govern effectiveness. Like a store window, how can you attract your customers to enter? Here’s what I came up with: (more…)
DragonSearch has added two Dragons to our growing staff. We’ve hired Cassie Allinger as a PPC specialist, and writer/editor Sari Botton to head up our copywriting/storytelling operations.
Allinger has worked in various aspects of internet marketing for several years. Prior to joining DragonSearch, she was a PPC, SEO and Internet marketing analyst for HubShout, an SEO reseller in Rochester, NY. Prior to that, she did online marketing for car dealerships in California and New York.