CEOs  •  CMOs  •  VPs and Directors  •  Managers  •  Young Professionals

Finding the Critical Gaps in Your Paid Search Advertising Strategy
Part 1 of 2

Steve Wiideman - President, Wiideman Consulting Group | Wiideman Academy

In December of 2015, The New York Times reported that digital ad spending will soon surpass TV, with 13.5% growth expected in 2016. Respectively, the value per dollar spent online is becoming increasingly critical to both the employee running the ads and the leadership teams who set the allocated budget. 

Engaging with your AdWords team and assessing the gaps in your PPC strategy is critical.  As a team, you will not only be able to find out what is not working in your PPC strategy, but you will also find areas in which to improve upon and target to achieve the results you seek. By utilizing the key tips we will be sharing in upcoming part two of this blog piece, you will be able to improve the performance of your team’s search engine advertising efforts within Google (AdWords), while staying within business rules, such as cost-per-sale parameters, to build a successful AdWords advertising plan.

AdWords in a Nutshell
Unlike most media-buying platforms, AdWords offers a pay-per-click model, allowing your ads to run essentially for free until a searcher decides to click on them. This platform is a great way to build brand awareness and tell your story to the right audience.

Costs and rankings are based on a combination of the highest bidder’s maximum bid, use of all the features available and a secret “Quality Score” formula.  This algorithm, from what we know, involves the usefulness of the ad and the webpage that the ad is directed to. These two things combined with the query (search term) that the searcher typed into Google, determines the overall ranking. 

Unlike a typical auction, the advertiser only pays a penny more than the next highest bidder, which means if you bid $3 and the competitor bids $1, you still only pay $1.01 to take that top spot (assuming Quality Score and ad formats are equal or better than the competitors’).

Next is Part 2 of this two-part blog piece appropriately titled, Opportunities are Knocking: Key Tips for Successful PPC Strategy.

I welcome your comments, and invite you to share this information.

Steve Wiideman, President Wiideman Consulting Group and Wiideman Academy

Events Calendar