The great thing about putting an ad up on Google is that you know you’re going to be seen. Google is the number one most visited site on the web and when you create an ad with Google you will get seen on thousands of other websites that use Google Adsense. You will also appear on the side of Google search results. People who see your Google ads will be searching for something and if your ad copy lets them know that you have what they want they will be more likely to click on it.

Facebook Ads

Google lets you target certain areas geographically and lets you target certain search phrases, but it can’t get as specific in its targeting as Facebook can. Facebook ads will let you target specific gender, age groups, interests, even relationship status’. I had a friend who was a wedding piano player and he was able to show his ad to only women in the area ages 19 – 30 who were listed as engaged. The disadvantage of Facebook ads, however, is that people are on Facebook to see what their friends are up to. They aren’t necessarily going to pay as much attention to the ads on the side as a Google searcher will to Google ads.

Analytics

Both Facebook and Google will let you see very specific feedback on your ads. In Google’s case you can see the location of those who clicked on your ad, the exact search phrase they used, how long they stayed on your site, what pages they looked at, and if they bought anything. With Facebook you can see the demographic of those who clicked on your ads. Both let you test your campaigns on different audiences and tweak your ad copy or your target as you gain new insight.

Social Media

Facebook ads have the potential of people sharing them. If you set up a really great advertising campaign people will want to share it with their friends. You can allow your ads to have the like button on them and if others see that their friends have “liked” your ad then they are more likely to take a look themselves. Google is becoming increasingly more social. You can now “+1″ ads to recommend a good find to your friends and others. But as of right now Google is significantly less social with its advertising. That may change in the near future with Google+ however.

Marketing

The smart thing to do would be to consider your type of business. Are people likely to search for your services in Google or are you a hip new restaurant that would catch people’s attention on Facebook? Are your customers searching for PPC Management Services? Or are they not necessarily searching for you, but are likely to react when they see you as a cool place to hang out with their friends? It might not be a bad idea to run both Facebook ads and Google ads for a time and see what works best for you.

Google - the window to the human mind

Inspired by Jessica Rooney’s “WTQ” posts on PPCHero.com, here are the funniest/most unexpected Google search queries that I have seen recently (along with the client’s industry):

Maid Service

• “sissy husband list” (possible new ad copy: “Replace Your Sissy Husband With A Maid!”)
• “maids in orange that wear bikinis” (a little specific, not sure they found what they were looking for)

Tax Lawyer

• “pictures of people who have IRS tax problems” (Google returned pictures of every U.S. citizen)

Spa In Dubai

• “massaging girls mobile number in dubai” (is Googling really the best way to get a girl’s number nowadays?)
• “Face have some holes” (I’m truly sorry for you)

Racing School

• “Potty races”
• “Race car driving for 13 year olds in Kansas” (Clear the roads!)
• “motocrossnationalsracinglakewoodcolorado” (Next search: “myspacebarisbroken!”)
• “what is the name of a mini racing motorcycle that is for kids 9 to12 and gos 80mph” (I can’t remember if it’s called “The Death Machine” or “The Kid Killer”)

Plastic Surgeon

• “I need a breast lift” (Admitting is the first step)
• “Make up geek tummy tuck” (???)
• “Breast augmentation gone wrong” (some sick horror movie?)
• “should I get breast augmentation?” (Um, that’s a question for your boyfriend, not for Google)

Lawyer In Utah

• “dog biting lawyers” (new promotion idea, Lawyer Client?)
• “Non Mormon car accident lawyers in Utah”
• “Road rage lawyers” (Uh-oh, can you get sued for road rage now?)

Book Writing Software

• “Hoe to write a childrens book”
• “I am writing a series of children’s books” (Google is proud of you, but are you looking for something in particular?)
• “writing childrens boks and finding an illustrater” (for the sake of the children and their spelling – please find a new career)
• “make your own sooper hiro story” (ditto)
• “publishinbooksforchildrensfromsanantoniotexas” (anti-space bar person is back!)
• “booklet making software with crack”
• “hitt learnenglish kids britishcouncil org en make your own story maker” (don’t ask me)

What funny search terms have you seen (or typed)? Share them in the comments below!

How Does Google Make Money?

Despite what they say, Google is not around simply to create a meaningful user experience for those surfing the internet.  It’s here to make money – and lot’s of it.  The future of Google will depend on what path will bring in the most profit for them.

In 2010, Google earned $29.32 billion in revenue, up 24% from 2009. Of this revenue, 96% came from advertising, both in search and on their vast display network.  Search is their bread and butter; PPC advertising is what brings home the bacon.

The Ingenious Google Business Plan

The Google Formula: TRUST = MONEY

Google’s business plan has been ridiculously successful.  It saw a need that consumers had – instantaneous information in an impatient world – and has worked tirelessly to provide that in its search engine.  The trick was not just to provide info, but to present to searchers exactly what they are searching for, while excluding all the bad stuff trying to sneak into the search results.  By successfully doing this, Google has built a trusted search reputation that is almost entirely unquestioned by the general public.

Unfortunately, Google does not get paid for its organic search results.  So it developed a system that allows advertisers to leapfrog the organic listings and show up at the top (for a price, of course).  Now – because of Google’s carefully built reputation that has resulted in incredible amounts of traffic – they have tons of advertisers lining up to appear at the top of search results.  Despite rising competition and costs (cost-per-click on Google’s PPC advertising has increased 8% in the last year alone), hundreds of new advertisers are signing up every day.

The Future Of Google Is Advertising

Google is already working behind the scenes to increase its advertising revenue.  By implementing strict advertising policies to increase user satisfaction, changing the appearance of ads to make them look organic, and other sly tricks, Google has raised the number of paid clicks 18% over the last 12 months.

So what’s the next step?  Well, it won’t happen overnight, but within the next few years Google’s search engine results will be entirely paid listings.  As the number of legitimate advertisers increase, and as Google’s advertising policies and quality score rating system improve, Google will fill the first page of most or all search result with advertisers who are willing to pay and can meet the quality standards of organic listings. And as they transition to this new format, the general public won’t even be able to tell the difference.

What does all this mean for you?  If you have a website, it means you need to get a head start and find excellent pay per click management services (I recommend ours, although I may be a little biased).  Google’s next logical move is to go completely paid listings – will you be able to keep up?

• Web Design – Everyone, no matter what kind of business they are, should invest in Web Design. This should be the very first step. If you spend all the money in the world on SEO, PPC, and Social Media but you have a poorly designed website you’re just shooting yourself in the foot. You may be able to drive a lot of traffic to your site, but if its ugly or hard to navigate those potential customers are not going to stay around long.
• Search Engine Optimization – This is the process of making changes on your website and building links around the web to make your website appear on top of the search results. Its a good idea for almost every business because most people looking for a business or a product will do a quick search in Google to find what they need. However, if your business is part of a very small niche maybe you don’t need to spend as much money here as there won’t be very much competition.
• Local Search Engine Optimization – This is becoming increasingly important because Google now includes local search results at the top for most searches. The catch is, you have to be a business with a physical location. If you are running a web design business out of your basement then you’re not going to be able to list your business in Google Maps and it probably wouldn’t do you any good if you did. For example, no one is going to get on Google Maps looking for Amazon.com because the location of their headquarters doesn’t matter. They are an online business.
• Social Media – Social Media is a powerful tool. Its a way to interact with your current customer base and if you are smart about it, its a way to get your current customer base to recommend you to their friends. But as popular as social media has become, its not the end all solution for every business. It works much better for businesses that connect with the younger generation. Although that is starting to change as more people from older generations are logging on to Facebook and Twitter.
• Reputation Management – Maybe you are an already well established and popular business. Most people find your website by searching for your name rather than generic search terms. If this is the case you will want to invest in reputation management. You want to make sure that when people search for your name they find pages that you have control over. For instance, you don’t want your official page “example.com” appearing right next to a website called “why example.com sucks.”
• Pay Per Click Advertising – If you’re willing to invest the money this is generally a good idea for everyone. If you are a local business you can target your ads to only show to local users. However if it might not be a good idea for you to continue your PPC if you’re paying $10 a click, and you’re only earning $5 from every click. Try it out and see if it will work for you.

So there are a lot of options out there. Think about how someone is going to search for your type of business. Do your customers frequently use social media? Are you a local business with a physical address? Do people find you exclusively through Google searches? Odds are you will want some combination of all of these services, but some smart planning can let you know where to focus your efforts on the right types of internet marketing as you figure out what internet marketing solutions are right for you.

Click-Through-Rate (CTR) – One of the most important factors in Google’s determination of what your Quality Score is, is your CTR. They look at what the rate is for similar keywords in that category as well as your accounts historical CTR. In this way you are benefited by having a longer running account as well as having historically well chosen keywords.

Landing Page Quality – The score is also influenced by how well optimized your ad’s landing page is. If the page has all the appropriate page elements (Title tags, Heading tags, etc…) and is relevant to the ad’s keyword your score will get a bump.

Keyword Relevance - This one is kind of recursive to the previous item. Again you just have to make sure that the keywords are relevant to the information on the referring landing page. So you want to make sure that you engage in good PPC Campaign Management in choosing your keywords.

For more information on how to keep Google AdWord Cost-Per-Click down by controlling your Quality Score just head on over to the source, Google AdWord Help

The better your AdWords call to action, the better your campaign will function. Just as you would in any other marketing campaign, you should create your call to action in light of those to whom you are trying to sell. What will most inspire them to click on your ad, rather than that of another company? Be sure to use language and phrasing that is appropriate for your target audience.

Google will soon begin to implement a feature for AdWords which will allow users to preview the content of the landing page for an ad. This feature will make it very important to engineer your landing page so as to provide exactly what you promise in your call to action. If you are asking the client to make a purchase, be sure that the way to execute that purchase is very clear on your landing page. A page that appears to be misleading or confusing will make the potential client doubt the credibility of the ad.

Google AdWords is a crucial tool for the online marketer. However, it must be used properly and wisely in order to ensure maximum returns.

Many SEO firms utilize Google Adwords to create pay per click campaigns for their client companies. Prior to this point, the only information a Google user had to go on was the description in the ad itself. Thus, campaign managers had to develop accurate and enticing ads. A new feature being added to Adwords will allow Google users to look at the cached image of the website before actually visiting it. Users have been able to preview the websites listed on their search results pages since late 2010. However, development of the preview feature for ads has taken a bit longer.

The feature should be beneficial to companies that invest in pay per click campaigns. Prior to development of this new feature, a Google user would have to click on the ad in order to determine whether the site to which it led was one that provided the goods or services that were needed. Because the companies had to pay for each click regardless of whether the visitor actually purchased anything or not, they ended up spending a lot of money on users who bought nothing . The option to preview the site should allow users to determine whether the site is worth visiting before they click on the ad, effectively cutting the company’s losses.

Google is working to make Google Adwords more cost effective for those who use it. Their efforts should result in increased business and revenue, not only for Google, but for those companies that use Google Adwords also.

Attribution is the process of crediting keywords or campaigns (or touch points in general) with a specific conversion so you can tell what is driving your traffic. As you look at your traffic keywords or click through words it is likely you will see that your most specific phrases are the most successful at generating traffic and revenue. However, there is a huge gap in the reasoning here.

Think about the last time you searched for something you didn’t know very much about. You probably started off with something pretty generic (TV cables). This got you to a website that helped you learn more about what you’re actually looking for. Then you searched again with more specific knowledge (Monster Cables). Again, the same thing happens, finally you find exactly what you need, so you do one last search – (HDMI Monster Cable). Well if you only consider your reporting software, it would seem like the phrase “HDMI Monster Cable” is your money maker and thus the only one worth investing in.

What you have to consider though, is the entire process. If the previous more general keywords weren’t in place the customer would have never gotten to your page. It is a little bit like a stair case that is missing the bottom three stairs, the ultimate pay off is in the top stair but all of the stairs below it contribute to the end result (ok, maybe this is a bit of a weak analogy, but I think you get the point). Now you can cut your general words and pray that they end up getting to your site with the specific words OR you can run all the words which will ultimately increase your odds of landing a conversion.

What we have done is a thorough attribution of touchpoints. (This is also something to consider for other forms of advertising – TV,Radio, Banner Ads,etc…). The point then, is to fully consider the entire customer conversion process and how to help your online presence meet all the needs along the way.

This study was originally done in 2009. Here are the highlights:

• 42% of users looked at Bing’s right side sponsored links
• 25% of users looked at Google’s right side sponsored links
• 90% looked at the sponsored links above the organic results

Compare that with the results from earlier this year:

• 21% of users looked at Bing’s right side sponsored links
• 28% of users looked at Google’s right side sponsored links
• 90% looked at the sponsored links above the organic results

The study also concluded that users spend more time viewing Google’s organic search results.

In the original study, participants spent about 7.2 seconds looking at the organic results on both search engines. The new data showed an average of 14.7 seconds looking at Google’s organic results, compared to just 10.7 seconds on Bing.

Conclusion: If you’re going to advertise on search engines, or plan on doing PPC campaign management, Google will give you a better return.

I think of it kind of like a loan. If you want to buy a car but don’t have the cash on hand, you can go to the bank and (if your credit is high enough) you can get a loan to help you pay for that car. Right now, your site has a certain amount of value to search engines. But chances are it isn’t enough value to get you to the top of the search rankings. Pay-per-click is a way to “borrow” value for your site to help it appear there. Your quality score is like your credit – the higher it is, the more value your site will get from the search engine. Paying for each click is the interest that you owe for borrowing that value. And over time, if your SEO is effective, you will earn that value organically and not need that loan anymore. When you pay off the loan for your car, you will own the car. For search engines, now you will own the value that your website needs to appear at the top.

And there are many other reasons to use pay-per-click management services to make your SEM effective. It can help you keep up with competitors who are also trying to appear high in search engines. You can use it to perfect your website in leading people to conversions. It can help you gain momentum and grow faster, getting your name out there and indirectly speeding up your SEO campaign. Altogether, if you are starting search engine optimization for your site, there is no reason that you should not begin taking advantage of pay-per-click at the same time.