ClickEquations Blog

On Tuesday June 14 I’ll be leading a free Webinar presented by the fine folks at MarketMotive, on the topic of Quality Score (surprise!). You can reserve a seat now.

This will be a one hour introduction and overview of quality score, but it will include some great details and tips that I think any paid search manager will enjoy.

Also, our friend Josh Dreller interviewed me recently about quality score and my new book – that interview is now live on SearchEngineLand.

Today, MarketingProfs is hosting the search marketing version of their free, virtual conference: Digital Marketing World.

You can see the full agenda here. PPC folks will want to attend Apogee Results CEO Bill Leake’s presentation at 2 EST, Turbocharge Your Paid Online Media Campaigns.

Description

Paid search/PPC, properly integrated with display/banners, and related media types are still far and away the single largest online component of discretionary online marketing budget, dwarfing SEO, Social Media, Mobile, and any other online marketing spend category. Every quarter the landscape gets more competitive, as more and more traditional media dollars get redirected online. Don’t despair: The great news is that there is a range of strategies and tactics that you can easily use that will swing the financial terms back in your favor, and put a new pep in your PPC step. Insights and concepts will be illustrated with real examples of companies like yours that have succeeded.

You will learn to:

• Have a fundamental tactical structure underneath your paid search accounts that maps to your strategy
• Determine the REAL Return on Investment and the right amounts to bid
• Create better text and graphical ads that outperform the competition

I was recently on a panel at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) where we talked about the idea of man vs. machine. Matt Van Wagner baited me the question: Who is better at PPC, people or technology?

It what might have been a surprising answer for a guy marketing ppc technology, I voted for people.

At the end of the day, you’ve got to have talented people driving the ship, regardless of what technology you use. Strategy and creativity are fundamentally human talents.

But, as anyone who has worked in search knows, creating a great PPC team is easier said than done.

That’s why I’m excited that ClickEquations is sponsoring the upcoming American Marketing Association webinar: How to Build a World Class PPC Team.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

A great paid search team can make the difference between okay results and rapid business growth. But how are today’s CMOs and VPs of Marketing are supposed to build highly effective and accountable teams when they face intense challenges? We know that:

• Paid search talent is hard to find
• Paid search is changing at an incredible pace
• It’s hard to know if a campaign is truly optimized. Could the ROI be higher? Could volume increase?

In this webinar, you’ll hear two case studies of companies who have created world class paid search teams and, most importantly, improved profit:

• Ian Lurie – President, Portent Interactive
• Drew Fortin – Senior Manager, Internet Marketing, Compete

You’ll learn why it’s critical to:

• Hire a complementary mix of creatives, technologists and analysts to meet the demands
• Build cross-functional teams with complementary skills
• Create an infrastructure of tools and technologies to leverage the team

The webinar is tomorrow (Tuesday), 3/29 at 1 EST / 10 PST. Register right here!

The right paid search platform can give you a competitive edge – you can spend more time optimizing your paid search programs and less time dealing with repetitive issues.

Choosing the “right” solution isn’t as easy as it sounds. No one knows that better than PPC Summit. They conducted primary research to understand the pitfalls to avoid, and the strategies to succeed, in buying technology to help you manage paid search. They interviewed over 50 marketers and surveyed 14 vendors.

We’re sponsoring a webinar tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT called the “Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Selecting Bid Management Sfotware” (hint: one of them is looking for bid management software).

In this webinar, you’ll discover what’s going wrong in the buying process, issues peers have faced, and how they’ve dealt with it. Mary O’Brien from PPC Summit will cover the top 10 mistakes to avoid, including:

• Why RFPs don’t always lead to the best decision
• Getting stuck in the feature trap
• Failing to define and prioritize your business needs

Every webinar attendee will receive a free copy of the Executive Summary from the research and a discount code to purchase the full report!

Reserve your space now!

Forrester Research Inc. released their latest coverage of paid search platforms, “The New Paid Search Automation Landscape” February 22, 2011.  ClickEquations was one of eleven enterprise vendors profiled in the research.

”The paid search automation landscape has grown to include more vendors that provide enterprise-level bid optimization, campaign management, and reporting. And automation can help marketers control their keyword programs directly while also cutting costs and saving time,” says Forrester Research.

Forrester Research’s report was based on interviews with vendors and end customers. The report covers:

• How Tools Support Bid and Campaign Management
• Why Use a Paid Search Automation Partner?
• The Paid Search Automation Technology Landscape
• Recommendations for who should buy paid search automation technology

Forrester Research’s Paid Search Automation Technology Landscape includes a list of all companies, revenues, customer base, estimated revenues and who the company is best for. The landscape highlighted ClickEquations’ “guidance to prioritize the most important tasks” as a key differentiator and noted that “ClickEquations helps marketers stay on top of their programs by alerting them when campaign conditions change and they should take action.”

The full report can be downloaded for free here.

Next week is the first Search Marketing Expo of the year in San Jose, aka SMX West. If you haven’t registered, you can use the code smx10click to get 10% off, register here.

I’ve lost count, but this will probably be my 9th SMX conference. Along the way, I’ve figured out a rhythm that works for getting the most out of the conference and I thought it would be helpful for other folks.

If you’re coming, stop by the ClickEquations booth (#223) to say hi or shoot me a note ahead of time acohen @ clickequations . com

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Before The Conference

The biggest value you’ll get out of the conference is the networking and the war stories you swap with other attendees. You don’t have to wait until the conference starts, though. Everyone gets an invite to SMX Connect. I recommend that you find attendees you’d like to meet and flag them as “want to meet”. It makes it easier to have a good lunch conversation.

Speaking of lunch, you should definitely log into SMX Connect early to sign up for the Birds of a Feather lunches. They’re tables organized for people who want to talk about specific topics, e.g. Paid Search or SEO.

Let’s be honest, if you care about, say, local search, then you probably don’t want to eat lunch with a bunch of Twitter nerds. The BOAF lunches are an easy way to make sure you get to chat with folks who are interested in what you’re there to learn about. You can only sign up for them on SMX Connect and they always book up in advance.

Craig and I are both hosting a BOAF lunch on Tuesday (Day 1)

• Birds of a Feather Table 2: Paid Search – Craig Danuloff
• Birds of a Feather Table 8: Search & The Complex Sale – Me (Alex Cohen)

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Pre-Conference – Monday 3/7

Monday is when most people arrive. That night is the SMX Meet & Greet from 6 – 7:30 in the 2nd Floor Ballroom Foyer of the San Jose Marriott.

The event is casual drinks. It’s worth going in particular if you want to meet certain speakers and veterans. They’re not swamped after a panel and the event is more intimate. Plus, you never know if you’ll get invited out to a dinner or more drinks with a good group.

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Day 1 – Tuesday – 3/8

This is the first day of the conference. The sessions change every show, so I can’t use past experience to recommend certain session.

What I can say is that the value of the session has almost everything to do with who is presenting. A speaker who can convey actionable tips in an easy to follow way is worth seeking out. Here are some I’ve personally seen present and enjoyed at past conferences:

• Scott Brinker – President & CTO of Ion Interactive
• George Michie – CEO, Rimm-Kaufman Group
• David Roth – Director, Search Marketing, Yahoo!
• Frederick Vallaeys – Adwords Evangelist, Google
• Matt Van Wagner – President, Find Me Faster
• Marty Weintraub – President, aimClear

Day 1 is also when Craig and I are hosting our Birds of a Feather lunches (see above).

This is also only 1 of 2 days that the expo hall is open (it closes on Thursday, which people sometimes forget). Check out the list of exhibitors. I’ll be working the ClickEquations booth, #223.

At 6:00, you can get free drinks at the Cocktail Reception in the expo hall (they give tickets to you at registration). It’s a good chance to unwind and see some of the vendors before heading off to dinner. See the section below on how to make the most of the expo hall.

After the Cocktail Receptions, people will generally splinter off for a quick bite before heading to the Internet Marketer’s Charity Party (Agenda Lounge, 99 South 1st Street). It’s $50 to get in, but the money goes to 2 good causes, it’s open bar and there are a bunch of great prizes that are given away. I recommend it.

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How To Explore the Expo Hall

Most conference attendees will never work in a trade show booth, but I have quite a number of times. Let me share a few tips on how to get the most out of the conversations you have there:

• The quietest times are, obviously, when the conference is in session. If there’s a time when there isn’t a session you want to attend (it happens), consider swinging through the Expo Hall then. You’ll get undivided attention.
• Make sure that you attend some of the Theater Presentations. Theater presentations are 20 slots where vendors can do a presentation on whatever they like. They’re like a conference within a conference.

  As you may suspect, some can be overly commercial. Good vendors (like us!) make them educational, because no one wants to hear us talk about our admittedly awesome paid search software forever. You can always leave if you don’t like it and there is often a giveaway.

  Check out our Theater presentations on Tuesday at 2:00 – 10 Ways to Improve Paid Search Campaigns. Craig Danuloff, our Founder & President, is presenting.

• A note on trade show giveaways (aka swag or tchotchkes). If you just want the free stuff and don’t have an intention of ever buying the product, just take it and enjoy. You don’t have to pretend to be interested. It’s better just to either not take it or politely ask for some and make way for folks who want to talk shop.

  Also, be sensible! I once saw a woman take 15 stuffed monkeys from the shocked booth next to me. I felt sorry for that poor marketer’s budget.

• Not every vendor in the expo hall is a fit for every attendee. For example, the first question I always ask folks is how much they spend on paid search advertising every month. If the answer is “$1,000 a month”, I’ll honestly say that it’s not a fit and give them a white paper with tips on how to help grow that spend profitably. You and the vendors have limited time. Focus on the conversations where it’s a fit.
• Don’t forget your business cards! If for nothing else, you can enter raffles

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Day 2 – Wednesday – 3/9

Assuming you didn’t go out after the IM Charity Party, there are plenty of good sessions in the morning. Here I’m going to give an admittedly biased plug for the two we’re on.

• 10:45 – Paid Search Testing and Reporting – Craig is on this panel, but it’s also moderated by Matt Van Wagner (who always does a great job of organizing) and Addie Connor, who is just plain awesome and brilliant.
• 1:30 – Search and The Complex Sale – I’m excited to present on this panel with a lot of folks I haven’t presented with before. Patricia Hursh is moderating and she’s a veteran of B2B panels. Sneak preview: I’ll be talking about how to use increase form registrations without losing contact information and how to use that effectively in managing your campaigns.

Note that the Expo Hall closes at 3:30 and they seriously mean it closes then. They literally start rolling up the carpets! It’s best to get there earlier in the day.

There are no dinner time events (though some vendors plan them), but the final networking event, SMX After Dark, is held at Motif (389 South 1st Street) starting at 9. It’s free, so most folks will be there enjoying the open bar.

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Day 3 – Thursday, 3/10

A lot of people leave before the last day. Don’t. Most of the expense of going to a conference is in flight and hotel, so it’s best to get your money’s worth by hanging out for the third day.

At 11:15, I’ll be presenting on Hot Topics in Paid Search. I’ll be talking about my predictions for the year, which I laid out in The Dawn of Paid Search Without Keywords.

The expo hall is closed and there are no events planned in the evening. I’ll be hanging around until Friday, so shoot me a note if you want to grab a bite and talk shop.

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Bonus: Things I Often Forget to Pack!

I travel a decent amount for work and I’m kind of a forgetful guy. To keep my brain from failing, I’ve created a packing checklist to make sure I don’t miss anything critical. I listed some of the ones you might also forget.

In particular, remember to bring extra business cards. I’d say 1/2 don’t bring enough (50-100 is a good range). Why do you need chapstick, cough drops and gum? You’ll be talking to people in dry, air conditioned rooms and nobody likes to talk to the guy with bad breath.

• Business cards
• Cell phone charger
• Camera/video camera
• Sweater/hoodie (it gets cold in those conference rooms!)
• Business cards
• Boarding pass
• Chapstick
• Cough drops
• Gum

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job running marketing at ClickEquations is that I get to be a goodwill ambassador to our customers. It’s always really rewarding to hear how ClickEquations has helped them grow their businesses and make paid search work for them even more efficiently.

[pullquote]“Using ClickEquations allows us to be competitive in the marketplace, scale our team of search marketing experts and focus on growing our business instead of wasting time on tedious tasks,”

Neil Costa – CEO, HireClix.[/pullquote]

Today, I want to share one of those stories: HireClix.

HireClix specializes in interactive marketing for the recruiting sector and manages pay-per-click (PPC) marketing for career-oriented and educational lead generation sites. CEO Neil Costa is a digital marketing veteran, having previously worked for Monster.com and managed annual online marketing budgets up to $20 million.

Neil knows his stuff and he put the system through its paces for several months. “HireClix’clients and prospects have high expectations for their paid search efforts, so our campaigns have to be very relevant and efficient. We tested ClickEquations inside and out and their paid search platform exceeded our expectations. It’s incredibly powerful and yet designed in a way that is very easy-to-use,” said Neil Costa, CEO of HireClix.

Why ClickEquations?

HireClix searched the marketplace and was attracted to ClickEquations because of our strong expertise in paid search.  HireClix found the automated monitoring to be valuable in identifying areas of risk and opportunity. They were also able to significantly reduce time spent reporting by 50% using ClickEquations Analyst, our Excel plug-in.

“Using ClickEquations allows us to be competitive in the marketplace, scale our team of search marketing experts and focus on growing our business instead of wasting time on tedious tasks,” added Costa.

“HireClix definitely understands the PPC marketplace. Their knowledge really showed as they leverage every aspect of ClickEquations. We’re proud to add them to our growing clients list and look forward to having them use our intelligent paid search platform,” said Jason Simon, Senior Vice President of Sales.

HireClix joins Comcast, Apogee Results, GyroHSR and other high growth advertisers and agencies in adopting ClickEquations’ intelligent paid search platform to improve their PPC results.

See For Yourself

If you’d like to see how ClickEquatons Analyst can cut your reporting time by 50 – 80% and increase profits, request a demo or email sales@clickequations.com. We’ll setup a time that works for you.

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There’s no shortage of educational material about paid search on the web. You could literally spend all day reading articles and watching webinars. But, there’s something about getting out of the office and talking to other people with the same challenges that stimulates new ideas. I always walk away from shows with pages of notes and new contacts. If you haven’t been to one, Fall is your last chance this year.

If you’d like to meet up at any of the events, shoot me a note: Alex Cohen, acohen @ clickequations.com

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See Us in New York at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East (10/4 – 10/6)

We’re about to hit the road for a couple of great conferences. First up is Search Marketing Expo East at the Jacob Javits in New York October 4 – 6. You can catch us on the show floor in booth #419.

Use the code “smx10click” to save 10% when you register.

We’ll also be speaking on a few panels:

• Tuesday, 2:45 – Search Ads: The Next Generation – Craig Danuloff, President & Founder
• Wednesday, 10:30 – Industrial Strength PPC – Alex Cohen, Senior Marketing Manager
• Wednesday, 12:45 – eCommerce & Retail Search Marketing Tactics – Alex Cohen

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Love Marketo & PPC? Come to the Marketo User Summit (10/13 – 10/14)

B2B marketers know that not every person who talks to you company is ready to buy right away. That can make paid search for products with long sales cycles tricky. Tools like ClickEquations help you get leads and tools like Marketo help you generate demand and nurture those leads until they’re ready for sales.

If you’re coming to the Marketo User Summit in San Francisco (10/13 & 10/14), stop by to see me present. The conference is open to Marketo users only. They’re currently running a 2-for-1 special and you can register here. You can get an extra discount if you’re willing to record a video testimonial. Shoot me a note and I’ll connect you with the conference organizers.

• Thursday, 2:00 – Customer Showcase: Search Engine Marketing- How to optimize PPC to increase demand and drive revenue – Alex Cohen

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Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago – We’re Coming for You, Midwest! (10/19 – 10/21)

SES moved from the cold of December to the slightly less cold of October. Their annual Chicago conference is one of the few major search conferences to hit the Midwest, making it a great time to get some training without too much travel expense. It’s a more intimate show, so you get to know more people and the speakers are very accessible.

Use the code “SPG20CH” to save 20% when you register.

There’s no booth, but you can catch my presentation:

• Wednesday, 1:00 – Holiday Shopping Tactics – Alex Cohen

Ever since the release of Keyword Zoom, we’ve been talking a lot about search queries and keywords. Keywords are the gateway in PPC advertising that connect your business to prospects. But, how do you find keyword niches that are profitable?

In this webinar presented by Compete and ClickEquations, you’ll learn 2 unconventional keyword research techniques:

• Competitive intelligence to find keywords with strong intent before you launch your campaigns
• Search query mining to improve your targeting and cut unprofitable clicks after you launch

Watch the recording: