Friday, August 1, 2008

Convert Lotus Notes to Outlook and More!

Window's Vista, Firefox, IE 7.0 all have created a need for some robust email, calendar and contact conversion software. Convert Lotus Notes .com seems to be focused around those exact issues. While it doesn't sell the solution directly, the ads it contains are highly relevant for companies offering a "Lotus Notes to Outlook" migration solution.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

PPC Consulting Pay Per Click Consultant

PPCE now offers PPC Consulting services!
As with most services ... this addition to our line of services was born out of a need. As more and more companies contact us to come and train them on our winning techniques of PPC Management, this arm of our company was formed.
So if your company or someone you know is looking for a Pay Per Click Consultant then contact PPCE.net today!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Are Some Google Reps Playing God?

PPC Management Frustration! "... putting a strain on Google's servers? Pleeeaassee ...!" (Read On)

Today I pinged Google through their pretty hand chat communicator, to ask for help with an account of a client of mine. Here was my question ...

Can you please expand the number of campaigns allowed (standard is 25) for this client to 99 campaigns?

The first chat (yeah, I had it emailed to me following the conversation) shows the first rep giving me a long winded excuse that sums up to ... I'm lazy and don't want to do this for you.

The second chat initiated about an hour later - posing the exact same question to a different rep, shows the rep helping me by accommodating my request.

I removed the Google rep's names to protect them from any conflict and blocked out account numbers / info, too.

Chat #1 - the rejection ...
General Info

Chat start time Jun 5, 2008 11:37:50 AM EST

Chat end time Jun 5, 2008 11:58:05 AM EST

Duration (actual chatting time) 00:20:15

Operator "Google Rep"

Chat Transcript

info: Thank you for contacting Google AdWords. Please hold a moment while we route your chat to a specialist who will help you with your question: "I manage this account for my client. We're looking to really scale this account out. Can you please make the number of campaigns allowed on this account to be 99?".

info: "Google Rep" has received your message and will be right with you.

"Google Rep": Hello, Clay. Thanks for contacting Google AdWords. I'm happy to help you.

"Google Rep": I understand that you'd like to have the number of campaigns in your account expanded. I'd be happy to look into this for you.

"Google Rep": Would you mind waiting a moment while I pull up your account?

clay: sure ... thanks

"Google Rep": Thank you for waiting, Clay. I've looked into this issue for you and it won't be possible to expand the number of campaigns in your account. This is because including a larger number of campaigns would cause your account to run extremely slowly. However, you can create multiple child accounts for this client so that they can have more campaigns.

"Google Rep": Does that make sense?

clay: child accounts?

clay: also ... why would that make the account run slower?

clay: I have other clients/accounts running over 60 campaigns at a time ...

"Google Rep": The child account is what we call a client account that is included in a My Client Center account.

"Google Rep": Having more campaigns may cause the account to run slower because there would be much more information included in the account, which means that it would take much longer to load all of that information at once.

clay: well - I already have an MCC account. How can I set up child accounts for this client?

"Google Rep": I'm sorry. I should have been clearer. This client account, *****, is what we call a child account, because it is in your MCC. You can create an additional account within the MCC for this particular cilent. Does that make sense?

clay: I understand, but that's not a viable solution for this client.

clay: can you expand the account to 70 campaigns?

clay: pleaaaaasseeeee ???

clay: u there?

"Google Rep": Yes, I apologize for the delay. I'm looking into this issue right now to see if we'll be able to request an exception for the campaign limit.

clay: ok. (don't worry about slow performance ... I'll take care of that)

clay: u there?

"Google Rep": Thank you for waiting, Clay. I don't believe that it will be possible to expand the limits for your account at this time. The reason for this is that your account currently has many ad groups which have a large number of keywords that have not had any clicks or impressions. Because your account has so much information in it that is not contributing to your performance, we recommend that you optimize your keyword lists to make your ad groups and campaigns more efficient. By doing this, you may be able to reorganize your account and make it more efficient within the given account limits.

"Google Rep": Having a large amount of unnecessary data puts a strain on our severs, which is why we have account limits. By encouraging you to stay within these limits, we may be able to make your account run more efficiently and help our servers run faster as well.


clay: (heavy sigh) ok

clay: bye

=========================

Now read the chat transcript from the "helpful" Google rep.

Chat #2 - the solution ...

General Info

Chat start time Jun 5, 2008 12:52:10 PM EST

Chat end time Jun 5, 2008 12:59:14 PM EST

Duration (actual chatting time) 00:07:04

Operator "Google Rep"

Chat Transcript

info: Thank you for contacting Google AdWords. Please hold a moment while we route your chat to a specialist who will help you with your question: "Can we expand the number of allowed campaigns in this account from 25 up to 99?".

info: "Google Rep" has received your message and will be right with you.

"Google Rep": Hello, Clay. Thank you for contacting Google AdWords. I see that you'd like to increase the number of campaigns allowed in your account.

clay: yes

clay: I actually manage that account :-)

"Google Rep": Ok, I'm happy to help you with this. Would you mind waiting for one moment while I pull up your account?

clay: no problem ... thanks

"Google Rep": I can raise that limit for you.

clay: great

clay: when can this be done?

"Google Rep": I'll be able to do this later today.

clay: thank you

clay: what will you be raising it to?

"Google Rep": You're welcome, Clay. It will be raised to 100.

"Google Rep": Is there anything else I can help you with today?


clay: not today. again ... thanks!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Andy Beal - Marketing Pilgrim - Best Contact Form

What does Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim say about Best Contact Form? "... it is the Best Contact Form I've ever used!" Read more of what Andy had to say about Best Contact Form here.

What is the automatic matching beta

Automatic matching is an optional feature that helps your ads reach targeted traffic missed by your keyword lists. It works by analyzing the ads, keywords, and landing pages in your ad group. It then shows your ads on search queries relevant to this information.

When automatic matching is first enabled, it dedicates a short period of time to gather information about your campaign. During this period, you won't see any change to your traffic levels. Once automatic matching has evaluated your campaign, your ads will start to show on additional relevant search queries.

The system will continually monitor your performance on these queries and adjust its matches accordingly. Automatic matching aims to show your ads only on queries that yield a high clickthrough rate (CTR) and a cost-per-click (CPC) comparable to or better than your ad group's current average CPC. This way, your ads receive additional targeted traffic at a similar cost to your current traffic.

Automatic matching won't allow your spend to exceed your budget, and it also won't affect the traffic you're currently receiving. For example, say your campaign's daily budget is $10, and on average you accrue $8 in traffic in a day. The automatic matching system may add $1 of relevant traffic per day, meaning it will not prevent your ads from accruing the traffic it normally does. Note also that automatic matching will not affect your campaigns if they already capture the majority of relevant traffic.

Here are a few more details about the feature:
Opting in and out: Automatic matching is applied at the campaign level. You can opt your campaign in and out of automatic matching on your Campaign Settings page.

Google Network: Automatic matching does not affect your ad delivery on the content network. It does affect your ad delivery on Google and the search network.

Quality Score: The traffic accrued by automatic matching won't affect your keywords' Quality Scores or minimum bids.

Ad position: When ranking your ads on search queries acquired through automatic matching, the cost-per-click (CPC) bid will approximate the current average CPC of your ad group. Learn more about ad rank for automatic matching.

Performance statistics: Aggregated performance statistics for automatic matching will appear in each ad group's Keywords tab, in a line item labeled Automatic Matching Total.

Search Query Performance report: You can see the search queries that triggered your ads due to automatic matching by running a Search Query Performance report. The queries will be labeled Automatic in the Search Query Match Type column.

Information found and presented by PPCE.net - a ppc management / pay per click management company.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Are You Hurting Your Own Quality Score in Google Adwords?

By Clay Sinclair.
Tip for PPCE.net's PPC Management / Pay Per Click Management Clients:

Over the past several months we've noticed a big change in Adwords. Particularly the increase in minimum CPC's to maintain ad positions. Some of this can be contributed to increased competition, but the bulk of it is due to your keyword's "Quality Score".
Google is very serious about providing their users with the best search experience possible, so they're tightening up their standards on what deems a site relevant.

I could go into depth on that topic, but for the sake of this article I want to address the question in the title ... "Are You Hurting Your Own Quality Score in Google Adwords?" The answer to that question is "yes" IF you perform keyword searches on your core keywords and don't click your ad, stay on the site a while and eventually convert.

So, how can you check your keywords / ads through out the day? By using the Google Adwords Ad Preview Tool. This nifty tool allows you to see how your ads display on a National Level or at the State Level and DOES NOT accrue impressions on your ads! Note - if your campaings are Geo Targeted, then you need to search your ads in the areas targeted. If you leave the "State" field set to "all regions within this country" while Geo Targeting your ads, the preview tool won't show your ad because the ad isn't a National Ad.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Google History aka Personalized Search

Article by Clay Sinclair.

Have you noticed lately that when you do keyword searches for your best keywords that your rankings (I'm talking "Organic" rankings) are all over the place?
I have. I even got a few people on the phone and had them do the same keyword searches and they all reported seeing my site in different places for the same keyword.
For example - when I search the keyword ... ppc management ... I used to see myself organically at #3. Now I see my site on page 2. But when my 2 other friends did the same keyword search, they both reported seeing my site at #3 and #5.
Same thing happened when I typed in the keyword ... pay per click management ... I used to be around positions #5 or #6 and now I'm on page 2. But when my buddies did the same keyword search they reported seeing my7 site where I used to see me site.

In researching this problem I came across some information on Google's site pertaining to their new "History" program. Although Google states that this is a program you have to sign up for (like Adwords and Gmail), I can't help but think they're implementing a "Personalized Search" history for all users to some degree.
You see, I used to search my 2 keywords above several times a day to get that warm fuzzy that "Google Loves My Site" from seeing my rankings on those two very competitive keywords so high. But with the "Personalized / History" program from Google, it makes sense that since I didn't always click on my organic listings, spend a good amount of time on my site and eventually convert by filling out my web forms that Google, in there efforts to provide me with the "best search experience possible", now serves up the results for those two keywords differently.

If anyone reading this article has experienced the same results / challenges as I just described, please reply to this post and let me know your experience.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

How to make Google Adwords Work for You!

Effective Pay Per Click Management is a skill everyone advertising on Google wishes they had. Well, we're working hard to not only provide the best results for our clients at PPCE.net, but we're developing features in Best Contact Form to make that a reality for even the novice of Adwords users.

Look for a brand new release of Best Contact Form on May 1st of this year! While we can't go into detail just yet - we can show you this ... http://www.bestcontactform.com/actual_results.php.
I can give you a hint, too ... "Smart Zone!".

Ok - short and sweet this time. But trust me, there will be a LOT more about PPCE.net and BestContactForm.com in the very near future!

And as always, don't forget to contact us at PPCE.net for your PPC Management needs!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

You've Gotta See BestContactForm.com!

Every website on the internet that has a contact form needs this service. Online marketing has become extremely competitive over the past several years, and those who gather the best data wins ... period.

So, what is Best Contact Form? BestContactForm.com allows even the novice of users to create as many "contact us forms" as they need using a unique GUI interface. No programming knowledge or skills are necessary to create simple to very complex web forms. The ability to make certain fields in the contact forms required are as easy as checking a box during the set up process. After the form is created you decide you need to rearrange the order of the contact form fields, simply drag and drop them where you want them ... it's that easy. Next, copy and paste the code generated by Best Contact Form's system into your web pages where you want the forms and you're done. Best Contact Form web forms also use Captcha Technology to stop spam submittals.

The simplicity of contact form creation is only the tip of the iceberg regarding reasons to get excited over our service. Never before has a contact form been able to provide valuable marketing data like Best Contact Form.
Along with all the fields on your contact us form accompanied by a Date & Time stamp emailed to the address(es) you specify, the individual client interface is where the juicy data is stored for custom sorting, views and exporting.

Valuable data for optimizing all marketing efforts include:

-All the fields on the web form
-Date & Time Stamp of the submittal
-Search Engine used to find the website
-Keywords searched to find the website
-Source of the click - organic listing, PPC ad, linked source, email campaign, book mark etc.
-City, State and Country of your converting visitors
-Complete Conversion Data including Revenue for sites with "try before you buy" products or services.
-Ties conversion stats to original form submittal to close the gap in lengthy sales cycles.


How Can Best Contact Form Help Your PPC Campaigns?

The information gathered by our contact forms will help all pay per click management companies formulate better strategies based on data. For example, let's break down each point mentioned above and apply a PPC Management strategy.

1. Date & Time stamps - After a reasonable sample size has been gathered, you can now see exactly the days and time slots your PPC campaigns convert the best. Now set up day parting schedules to ensure your top converting keywords are on and at the top during these times.

2. Knowing the search engines that drive leads instead of traffic is huge. Now you can spend you money on only the good engines.

3. Seeing the actual keyword typed in to find your site give you a huge advantage over your competition. Now you can build out your keyword bank with specific, long tail keywords to drive down your CPC's.

4. Learning the source of your conversions is extremely valuable information. Knowing if your traffic is from Organic listings, PPC ads, link or email campaigns is crucial. This form will show the source of each form filled out. Talk about keeping your SEO Company honest ... wow!

5. Geographical data - knowing the city, state and country of your conversions will help develope marketing stratgies across all departments. Imagine KNOWING the areas you're strong in and the areas you're weak in. Now you can milk your strong areas out for all they're worth and focus on other media types to build your market presence in the areas you're weak in.

6. If you're a company that offers "free trial versions" or "try before you buy" type of products and/or services, our contact forms will tie the conversion data including the revenue, back to the original form submittal! This instantly closes the gap in lengthy sales cycles. Imagine a couple of months of this type of data. Now you can really see which keywords are driving actual sales and not just free downloads / trial versions.

The things you can do with this contact form are endless - your imagination is literally the limit. With BestContactForm.com you're not limited to the number of forms you can create, the number of fields you can put in your forms or the number of sites you put them on. Go crazy ... it's all good!

Log on to http://www.bestcontactform.com/ and watch our 3 minute video Today!