Ad Extensions

Ad Extensions are what make your ads stand out.  They provide additional information that may only be relevant to certain types of businesses or campaign goals. Commonly used ad extensions include site links, callouts, call numbers, and location extensions. Site links provide the top sections of your website that appeal to people. For instance, a site link for Noodles and Company could be "Find Nearest Location" or "Full Menu". These are likely site locations people are looking for when they search for the resultant. In this way, site links make the website faster and easier to access. The following is an example of site links that Nike has utilized for its ad:

Another common extension is the callout feature, which i have previously talked about. Callouts are helpful because they provide additional detail that easily grabs attention. It is important to always add callouts to adds because they are free and lead to higher CTR and quality scores. This picture highlight how callouts look in a search result. Callout phrases like "Over 10 Years of Experience" serve to attract potential clickers. This particular ad contains site links beneath the callouts as well:

Lastly, adding a call and location extension, allows customers to effortlessly contact or reach the company or store. These extensions are especially needed to complete conversions. The examples below show the call button extension for DSW and the location link for the ice cream shop. If the call button is clicked, the consumer will have automatically dialed DSW's contact number. Likewise, if the location link is clicked, Google maps will begin directing the consumer to the ice cream location.

Campaign Strategies

Hi Again! This post is dedicated to AdWord Campaigns. The first step to running a successful campaign is to understand the goal of the campaign. One campaign may be to increase the click-through-rate and another may be garner brand exposure. All campaigns are made of ad groups. It is a good practice for each of these ad groups to contains 4-5 ads. Each group representing a specific theme. Thereafter, after a while of trial, ads that do not perform as well can be improved or paused. Once you have tried to create a campaign you can reach out to AdWords for some general advice, using Adwords Support. It is possible to call, chat, and email a representative. This is helpful because you may be able to learn something new or gain a few new suggestions. There is always room for improvement.

After a campaign has run, Google will begin to offer suggestions, many keywords related. It will scan the landing page, and find many applicable keywords that can be utilized. Another option is the "Opportunities" tab. This is where AdWords provides suggestions for the campaign not only involving keywords but also for ad groups. For instance, an opportunity may say, "Create 2 ad groups from found keywords in beachwear". There is an option to view or apply the opportunity. It is wiser to view the suggestion and change it as needed before applying it to the campaign. This is neat because Google is able to think of relevant ad groups that one may not have thought of. Here is a general breakdown of a campaign.

Using the www.rgbexchange.org/ site, I created a search network campaign for the homepage. Below is one of the ads I made under the ad group: Green Exchange (the theme I chose). 

Creating an Ad with Callouts

Hello Readers! Today, I created my first Adwords ad. The process was easier than I expected and essentially involves inputting company information, product type, and goal. The ad itself is simple enough although it does require some thought. To begin, I first had to create a campaign and specify the goal. In my case, site visits. The ad I generated involves a faux company I made up called SupriseBox. The company's "mission" is to allow busy people to send quick, customizable, pre-wrapped gifts to whoever they would like. This product is perfect for people with little time, no idea what to give, or for around the Holiday season when shopping can become difficult. The description provided briefly explains this idea. The screenshot below provides the gist of the ad I made:

When creating an ad, there are three primary headings: The company name, descriptor, additional details. Another line, with additional information called callouts, may also be added. Callouts are especially important because they highlight what a company has to offer as well as provide more room to communicate to consumers. By doing this, readers will be more likely to click the ad and thus generate website visits. I chose to write "Free Shipping" and "24/7 Service" to show company services that are likely to appeal to the target market of SupriseBox. I also included "Buy One, Give One" because it is one of the goals of the company: social entrepreneurship. In addition, this phrase can be used as a marketing tactic since generosity is typical during the Holiday season. Callouts are considered ad extensions and do not cost an additional fee. It is important to note that because it is an extension, callouts may not always appear. Therefore, all vital information should be left on the description line. It takes about 24 hours for Ad Words to review and approve the ad. Here is how the ad I created will look on a consumer's mobile device once it is approved:

Keywords

Hello! Today, I will be discussing  Chapter 5 from the Introduction to Search Engine Marketing and Adwords book. Here are a few key takeaways about keywords.

Keywords are essentially phrases that trigger an AdWords ad, when searched on Google. A important equation to remember in order to avoid confusion is "search term= search query= search phase= keyword". Basically, these all meaning the same thing and have one purpose: trigger an ad. There are also two general types of occasions that define how Keywords are used. The first is in situations where the searchers know about a specific product, brand, or organization. The second is in which searchers are interested in a non-specific product or service. For instance, examples of the first type are "Apple AirPods" or simply "Apple", and examples of the second situation are "wireless earphones" or "latest phone gear".

Sometimes it is hard to think of all relevant keywords in one sitting. Keywords Planner is an AdWords tool that helps you get ideas. Simply input general information like product or service and the relevant categories. Basically, the goal is to come up with keywords that will garner clicks on the ad. By using a certain clicks goal, a company will establish a conversion goal. For example, "for with 500 clicks on our ad, we aim for 75 product purchases". This is an example of what the Keyword Planner looks like:

Tools to Measure Performance

Now that I have an Adwords campaign set up, the next step is to measure its performance. Measuring performance is vital. Through improving the ad and website, one can optimize the ROI or return investment (or the effectiveness of the campaign). Here are two tools that make performance measuring a whole lot easier:

Conversion Tracking: This is a free tracking tool from AdWords. Conversions are basically actions (goals) that occur once the ad is clicked. For example, a conversion for a website promoting an app would be the amount of app downloads that occur. So, instead of simply counting how many clicks the ad brought, conversion tracking counts how beneficial the ad was (in meeting goals). AdWords starts conversion tracking after a bit of java code is pasted on the page that displays once a conversion or goal is complete. Conversion tracking is a meaningful way to decipher how effective ads are. It also allows one to put more money into ads that are effective.

Google Analytics: Google analytics is a widely used website traffic and activity tracking tool. It is possible to link Adwords and Google Analytics together thoroughly understand customer behavior. Here are the benefits according to the AdWords Fundamentals Module 3.2:

Targeting Your Audience

This week I will be discussing information from Module 2 of AdWords Fundamentals Study Guide entitled: Setting up an AdWords Campaign.

A first step to a successful campaign is ensuring your ads are being viewed by the correct audience. It is extremely important to know who your audience is and what their behaviors and tendencies are in order to create effective ads. By uing different functions within AdWords you can easily reach out to your target market!

Location and language targeting is a helpful option that allows you to choose specific geographic areas to display your ad, for instance in America and English only. In addition, device targeting allows you to choose if people may see your ads of devices or only desktops (time of day or device type). This may be helpful if reaching out to a specific audience such as the elderly that are more comfortable searching the web using a desktop than a phone. 

One type of targeting that we are all very familiar with is managed placement targeting. This allows you to choose where your ads will appear on websites your audience is accustomed to visiting. For example, if you have a natural makeup line and you notice your audience often visits a vegan recipes website, you may want your ad to appear on that site. 

Keyword Targeting is using different match types to trigger your ad for different phrases your audience may search. Exact match, for instance, will narrow the possibility of the ad appearing, appearing only to a specific target audience. There are also negative keywords that can be added. Negative matches will exclude your ad from appearing when certain keywords are used in a search. Below is a helpful chart from this Adwords support page:

Match type	Special symbol	Example keyword	Ads may show on searches that:	Example searches
Broad match	none	women's hats	include misspellings, synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations	buy ladies hats
Broad match modifier	+keyword	+women's +hats	contain the modified term (or close variation, but not synonyms), in any order	hats for women
Phrase match	"keyword"	"women's hats"	are a phrase (or close variation)	buy women's hats
Exact match	[keyword]	[women's hats]	are an exact term (or close variation)	women's hats
Negative match	-keyword	-women	are searches without the term	baseball hats

Introduction to Adwords: Effective Keywords

Hello everyone! This week I will be introducing Adwords and providing some tips to building effective keywords. To begin, Adwords is the tool Google uses to monetize its search engine capabilities. It essentially allows its search result pages to host paid ads. Through Adwords, companies can create custom ads that appear by specific search inputs. The ad's cost is dependent on how many people click on it; this is called CPC or Cost Per Click.

Keywords, according to chapter one of Introduction to Social Media Marketing and Adwords, are "guesses of what people might search for when they are looking for information on Google". Keywords are simply words or phrases. Companies can write a list of potential search inputs or keywords people may make. For example, a local French Bakery may choose keywords like "Bakery in Naperville" or "Macaroons near Lisle". Previously, all keywords had fixed prices but now bidding can take place. Competitors may often vie for the same keywords,  Dollar Tree and Dollar General may both vie for the "Dollar Store" keyword, for instance. However, only the highest bidding company can claim the keyword. It is also very important to carefully choose keywords. This will allow for higher quality keyword scores. A high score means that the content on the web page matches the keyword given. It is also important to have good keywords with these high scores so that the ad can appear higher and closer to the first page of search results. Naturally, this will lead to more clicks and thus more site traffic. This process is apart of Search Engine Optimization or SEO.

Some Tips for an Effective Keywords List:

According to this Adwords Help article, it is very important to approach this task through the lens of the customer. What would your typical customer search for? Using what terms?

• Break down the company into different aspects and start building from there. Creating ad groups that are based on products or services allows customers to see different ads based on their specific searches.
• Use natural language instead of word bites. i.e "custom made cakes" instead of "fresh butter cream fondant cake"
• General keywords: In order to reach as many people as possible choose broader words. This requires alot of testing because general terms are more competitive and often require higher bids.
• Use word clusters: These are sites that review an article and find reoccurring words (ie Wordle or Tag Crowd). Using these reoccurring words is a good start to finding high scoring keywords.
• Look at competitor keywords by viewing their source code and searching "keywords". This will allow you to get effective keyword ideas.

Sources: 

-Introduction to Search Engine Marketing and AdWords: A Guide for Absolute Beginners 1st ed. Edition by Todd Kelsey

-https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2453981?hl=en

-https://hub.wiley.com/community/exchanges/discover/blog/2017/06/07/how-to-choose-effective-keywords-for-your-article

-https://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_marketing_blog/bid/112478/seo-5-simple-steps-for-choosing-effective-keywords