Foreword by Orvel Ray Wilson Acknowledgments Introduction Who Should Read This Book? How This Book Is Different The Secret Agent Pen Story

Transcription

1 Foreword by Orvel Ray Wilson Acknowledgments xv xix Introduction Who Should Read This Book? How This Book Is Different The Secret Agent Pen Story xxi xxi xxiv xxv About the Author xxix CHAPTER 1 The Basics 1 The Long and Short of It 1 Definitions 2 Findability 2 Keywords 4 Search Engines 4 Search Engine Results 5 Search Engine Marketing 5 Paid Search 5 Natural Search 6 Search Engine Optimization 6 Organic and PPC Placement 7 Debunking the Free Myth 8 Page One Visibility 9 vii

2 viii Contents Advertiser 10 Ad 10 Customer 11 Conversions 11 Search Engines The Big Three 11 CHAPTER 2 First Things First 15 Conducting Your Paid Search Campaign 17 Knowledge before Action 18 The P Words 18 Laser Focus 21 A Good Click 22 Avoiding Bad Clicks 23 CHAPTER 3 How People Search, Shop, and Buy Online 25 Path to Purchase 25 Correcting a Common Misconception 25 The Buying Cycle 26 The Keyword Trail 27 CHAPTER 4 The Art of the Keyword 29 Why Keywords Are Key 29 Leaving the Laundry 30 Narrowing the Field 31 Secret Sauce 33 CHAPTER 5 Keyword Alignment on the Path to Purchase 35 Keyword Tails and Search Strings 35 Advantages of Targeting Your Keywords 38 Phased Searches 39 Information Phase 40 Shopping Phase 42 Purchasing Phase 43

3 ix Purchasing Keywords 43 Establishing Trust 45 The End Game 47 The Pause That Refreshes 47 CHAPTER 6 The Keyword Discovery Process 49 Impatience 49 Finding Your Keywords 50 Company-Centric Keywords 51 Mapping Out Your Keyword Strategy 52 Step 1: Your Positioning Statement 52 Step 2: The Brainstorming Session 55 Step 3: Using a Keyword Research Tool 64 Step 4: Negative Keywords 70 CHAPTER 7 Grouping and Themeing to Complete the Keyword List 77 Organizing and Refining Your Keywords 78 ABC Computer Company 78 Keyword Themeing and Grouping 82 Grouping Keywords by Customer Experience 84 Why Are We Having You Go to All This Trouble? 84 Organization 85 Grouping According to the Buying Cycle 85 Keyword Combinations and Variables 86 CHAPTER 8 Location, Location, Location 89 Geotargeting 90 Geographic Modifiers 90 Geotargeting versus Geographic Modifiers 91 Another Example 92 Recommendation 92 Example: A U.S. Delivery Campaign with Geographic Modifiers 93

4 x Contents CHAPTER 9 Seasonality 95 Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus 95 Hidden and Subtle Seasonality 96 Reverse Seasonality 97 Campaign Timing 97 CHAPTER 10 Writing Your Ad Text 101 What Is an Ad? 101 How Hard Could It Be? 103 It Ain t Easy 104 Your Ad Writing Goals 105 Step 1: Ad Writing Bucketed Keywords List 105 Step 2: Understanding the Ad Text Landscape 106 Pick Me, Then Click Me 108 The Components of a Paid Search Ad 108 A Window into Your Competitors Souls 109 Ad Preview Tool 110 Putting Pen to Paper 111 The Headline 112 Description Line Description Line The Display URL 120 The Destination URL 122 More Help with Ad Text 124 Real-Life Example 125 Trust 127 The Italian Job versus Wayne s World 129 Incorporating the Buying Cycle into Your Ad Campaign 130 Ads along the Path to Purchase 131 CHAPTER 11 After the Click 137 Quality Score 138 What You Need to Know 140 Where Are You Sending Them? 141

5 xi Ad Correlation 143 Brick-and-Mortar Metaphor 144 Uh-Oh 145 Landing Pages 146 Landing Page Overview 146 To Navigate or Not to Navigate 147 Landing Page Uses 148 Landing Page Caution 148 Checking Your Landing Page 149 Landing Page Guides and References 150 CHAPTER 12 Bidding and Budgeting 153 How Much Do PPC Ads Cost? 153 Research Your Keywords in SpyFu 156 Evaluation 159 Bidding with the Buying Cycle in Mind 160 Google AdWords Traffic Estimator 161 Adjusting Variables 162 The Challenge of Bidding 165 Setting a Bid 165 Across-the-Board Bidding 166 Data 166 Ongoing Bid Strategy 167 Budgeting 169 How Much Should You Spend? How Much Is Enough? 169 CHAPTER 13 Account Deployment 173 Taking Control 173 Beware of Defaults 173 Starting with Google 174 Anatomy of an Account 175 Road Map 176 Step 1: Create a Google AdWords PPC Account 176 Step 2: Install Google AdWords Editor 178

6 xii Contents Step 3: Build Out Your Campaign(s) in AdWords Editor 178 Step 4: Set Match Type in AdWords Editor 180 Step 5: Set Bidding in AdWords Editor 186 Step 6: Upload Campaign to Google AdWords 186 Step 7: Go through All the Campaign Settings 187 Step 8: Insert Conversion Codes 196 Step 9: Make a Final Check and Activate 199 CHAPTER 14 The Care and Feeding of Your Search Engine Marketing Campaign 201 Finding a Balance 202 Let It Stew 203 The Exception to the Rule 203 Two Weeks Later: 80/ Rebucketing 205 Focus on the Cream 206 Checkpoints 206 Checking Your Quality Score 209 Tweaks and Refinements 30 to 60 Days 209 What about the Other Search Engines? 211 Ongoing Support 211 Search Engine Relationships 212 More Help and Support 214 CHAPTER 15 Hiring Help 217 Decisions, Decisions: Outsource or In-House? 218 Hire an Agency or Independent Consultant 218 The In-House Option 223 CHAPTER 16 SEO Search Engine Optimization 227 What Search Engines Care About 228 Your Primary Concern 229 What Is SEO? 229

7 xiii PPC + SEO The Marriage of Two Enemies 230 The Big Picture 231 Tools You Can Use 232 SEO Road Map 232 Step 1: Theme Web Pages with Converting PPC Keywords 233 Step 2: Run Multipage Keyword Density Analysis 234 Step 3: Edit Title and Meta Tags 240 Step 4: Write New Web Site Page Copy 240 Step 5: Update New Title, Meta Tags, and Page Content 241 Step 6: Submit Your Revised Web Site to Search Engines 241 Step 7: Track Your Results 242 Linking 243 Not All Links Are Created Equal 243 SEO Wrap-Up 245 The Findability Formula Wrap-Up 245 Invitation 246 Index 248