Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

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appropriate landing page that already exists. Exploring different landing page options

with an A/B split (described later this week) may also be in order.

Did I get caught in a word-matching snafu?

If you are using a broad matching option,

is it possible there’s a broad match to your term that’s drawing in the wrong audience?

You can fix this with a

negative match

, a type of matching that excludes words you

specify so that your ad doesn’t show up for those terms. For example, you may want to

sponsor the term “shredder” for your snowboarding site but you probably don’t want

to pay for clicks from people who are looking for those paper-eating office supplies. In

this case, you’d want to exclude the words “paper” and “document” for this keyword.

Am I inadvertently using bait-and-switch tactics?

If you owned a bike shop in Santa

Cruz, California, you might think it’s perfectly reasonable to sponsor the search terms

“santa cruz bikes.” Unfortunately, this is also the name of a popular brand of moun-

tain bikes! Many of those click-throughs are going to be disappointed by your site. If

you’re in a situation like this, you’ll need to review your ad text to eliminate ambiguity.

Make sure your ads clearly represent your offering.

What’s a Conversion Worth?

Determining the value of a conversion is anything but straightforward.The Left Brain and Right

Brain share their perspectives.

The Left Brain says,

“If you’re paying for advertising, you need to have a way to determine if it’s

worth the cost.That means giving a numeric value to your conversions! For larger organizations,

your marketing department probably already has a concept of the lifetime value of a new cus-

tomer or client. For example, the PPC visitor who buys a digital camera online today may come

back in a year for spare parts, and then recommend you to a business partner for a large purchase

three years down the road.”

The Right Brain says,

“If your type of conversion is less tangible—for example, a visit to your

Map and Directions page or downloading a white paper—you’ll probably be hard-pressed to place

a numerical value on it.This may be a case of ‘I know it when I see it’—your gut will tell you that

$10 per conversion feels like too much but $5 feels OK.If you can’t place an exact value on your

conversion,the best approach is to manage your campaign diligently so that you stay within your

PPC budget and strive for the lowest cost per conversion possible.”

Now:

Review your keywords with low conversion rates and make changes for improvement.

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