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We’re trying not to even use the word “busy”. Everyone is “busy”. But “busy” is not necessarily a good thing as it’s often a sign of being disorganised. Being productive (& profitable) is where it’s at.
Our focus for the past month has been on achieving the “important but not urgent” tasks. This Friday is our deadline. Each person who reaches their goals receives a 1.5hr massage; if not they have to give the massage to someone else! This has really, really helped our focus. Try it!
Let’s get on to what’s in store for you in this edition:
1. If you don’t know your Quality Score you’re burning money
2. The most valuable Google AdWords report you should be running
3. Google Analytics: The one thing you should not outsource!
4. Search Marketing Expo & Conference review
5. News from CleverClicks
1. If you don’t know your Quality Score you’re burning money
Are you running Google AdWords campaigns? If so, you HAVE to know the Quality Score (QS) that Google gives you on every keyword. This is so important because it is a large determinant of the cash you hand over to Google.
Firstly, can you see your QS? Google turns it OFF by default (which is very annoying).
To turn it on, follow these steps:
- In your account, click the KEYWORDS tab
- Just under that tab, click the word “Columns”
- In the green section, click “Qual. Score”
- You have now enabled QS
Now you can sort all your keywords in order of QS, which is a score out of 10. If you see lots of keywords with QS less than 7, you are WASTING money.
So why should you care? In a nutshell, Google takes your QS score into account in determining the Cost Per Click you pay. It’s not just about what bid you want to pay.
Let’s assume you and your competitor are both happy to pay $5 per click (your Maximum Cost Per Click), and you have a QS of 4 and your competitor has a QS of 8; your $5 may get you into position 3, but they could pay $2.50 to get into that SAME POSITION. That’s HALF your spend!
We’ll go into more detail about QS in another edition. But hopefully we’ve piqued your curiosity enough for you to want to find out more about this mysterious beast .
2. The most valuable AdWords report you should be running
Do you know the exact search phrases people are searching on that are triggering your ads? Not your keywords that you’re bidding on, but the actual search term?
Knowing the actual search term is incredibly powerful information. And unless you enjoy setting fire to your money, it needs to be acted on!
For example, you may be bidding on “accommodation Sydney” but the actual search term triggering your ad could be “shared accommodation Sydney”. Or “free accommodation Sydney”. Very, very different intent on the part of the searcher.
It really pays to stop your ads showing for these irrelevant search terms. You need to add the words “shared” and “free” as negative keywords, which means the ads will NOT show if the searcher types “shared” or “free” as part of their search request.
How to add negative keywords:
1. Click the <KEYWORD> tab in the main Google AdWords console.
2. Scroll right to the bottom, and click the blue hyperlink named (funnily enough) “Negative Keywords”.
3. Add any terms here.
Under the “Reports” section, run the “Search Query Report” to identify what actual search terms were typed in by your visitors.
Run this report weekly for the first month, then move to fortnightly or monthly (depending how many new keywords you’re adding).
3. Google Analytics: The one thing you should not outsource!
You can outsource many online marketing initiatives (eg your search engine optimisation, web design, Google AdWords), but if you’re serious about your web presence, you should be developing these skills in house.
Why, you ask? Well, because your Analytics data is a dashboard which tells you how all you’re the components of your website success. Not logging in regularly is like flying a plane blindfolded.
Analytics can tell you:
- Why you’re not getting enough leads
- Which web pages are blocking the sales process
- Whether your AdWords is making you money
- If your SEO provider is doing a good job
- If there are changes you should make to improve the persuasiveness of your webite
- The movements and actions taken of the people finding your website for the first time, as well as those from your high probability customer location (for example, Sydney)
The list is really endless.
There are lots of resources to improve your skills. You could do a lot worse than the education provided by Google Analytics itself. http://www.google.com/analytics/education.html
4. Search Marketing Expo (Sydney)
We attended the leading Search Marketing conference in Sydney 2 weeks ago (SMX). Search marketing is such a fast-changing industry – which is one of the reasons we love it so much.
Some takeaways for you to consider:
- Facebook is an incredible marketing tool. If you’re not using it already, you should start getting your head around it (and it’s not just Facebook fan pages)
- Google’s tentacles continue to spread. What will they not get into?
- Google is rolling out a major update to their algorithm (Google Caffeinem, which focuses on ‘real time’ results) which may have a big impact on your search engine rankings
- Advanced marketers are getting very excited by the results of conversion optimisation
If you want some more detail, check out our live blogging from the event.
5. News with CleverClicks
- We are growing. We’re currently looking for another Online Marketing Ninja to join the team. You can see the job profile here.
- Philip presented at an online marketing workshop for the Working Women’s Network a few weeks back. It went so well, and he had some much fun, that CleverClicks has now partnered with the Network to provide online marketing help to new members.
- We have been doing quite a few half-day workshops with clients to help them to squash the overwhelm and confusion around all their online marketing priorities. At the end of the session, they are very clear what their priorities are. Here is a testimonial we’ve received:
“CleverClicks is our new bestfriend. On AdWords and Analytics they have opened up an exciting new set of tools to help us manage our business – where most leads come via the website. Philip explained the complexities and possibilities so well, in a way we could understand, related it to OUR business. He encouraged us to get in and try things for ourselves and left us so excited – like big kids with a new toy!! We will be using CleverClicks to guide us through improving and monitoring the effectiveness of our online marketing.”
- We have been missing Laura as she has been gallivanting around Egypt. The office is missing her enthusiasm and energy. Lucky for us she’ll be back this week.
As always we’d love to connect on Twitter at www.twitter.com/philipshaw where Philip covers news and tips on various online marketing topics.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition. If you’ve come across something a friend or colleague might find useful, please share the love and pass it on!
As always, we love your feedback.
Regards,
The CleverClicks Team
www.cleverclicks.com.au