Now that we're on to our third and final boot camp session, we know that 1) keyword research is the first step to getting your message right and 2) content is king and there are several ways to enhance copywriting for success with search marketing.  In this last session, we will review some basic information around paid search and important tips shared at SMX West.

There are a few things to keep in mind with regard to Paid Search:

1. While Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are complementary, with PPC you can:

• Get going quickly (you don't have to wait for the search engine to index your site)
• Discover what words convert (you are in control of which words you use in your ad campaign)
• Manage the risk of algorithm changes (with PPC your placement is not affected by algorithm changes to the search engine)
• Rely on predictable, dependable flow of traffic (you have more control over how and when your site is served up within search engine results pages [SERP])

2. PPC Allows you more control over messaging

• You write the ads that appear
• You determine what pages visitors first land on
• The top 3 search engines cover 96% of the market, so be sure to get it right on these three!

3. Some key terms (with definitions) you will hear as they relate to Search Engines and Advertising Networks

• Keywords: words and phrases that trigger ads to show
• Ads: really, really short text (or graphic) sales pitches
• Bids: how much you are willing to spend to show your ads, get clicks and conversions
• Targeting: options include geographic, time of day/day of week, demographic, and browser/mobile devices
• Landing pages: the pages you want people to see first and "land on"
• Process: Managing all of the above plus tracking results, conversions, return on ad spend plus testing and improving leveraging tools and resources

How do paid search auctions really work?

• Keep in mind that Search Engines want their results to be relevant to the searcher. For this reason, the highest bid doesn't necessarily get the top spot. 
• Ad Rank is the order (or spot) an ad appears on the SERP and is determined by Quality score X Max bid.  This was intentionally left off of the key terms/definitions list as it's only important to know that ad rank exists - your biggest focus should be on creating great PPC campaigns. 
• Quality score is made up of relevancy (keywords, ads, landing page) and historical performance (CTR)

When setting up and managing a campaign, there are a few things you should keep in mind and answer to guide your behavior with search advertising:

1. What is the primary goal of your campaign?  Is it leads, sales, brand building, driving traffic, etc?
2. How do you define success?  Offline or online sales conversions, steps on the path towards sales conversions, something else?
3. How do you measure success?  Do you use the free conversion trackers offered by the top 3 search engines, use a third party web analytics tool, gauge success by how much the phones ring, or measure the increase in total company sales and profits?  There are several ways to measure success - just be sure you are measuring it somehow.

Tips:

• Where you have an advantage...exploit it!  Improve your ad position and ROI with targeting - bid on time zone and demographics that make sense for you
• Search Engine ads (direct "pull" advertising) work differently than Content Network Site ads (indirect "push" advertising), so manage them accordingly
• Measure actions - don't manage just CTR or CPC!  It's important to actually track conversions (since this is what you are doing all of the work for, right?) and not click-throughs!  Important to note that Google and Yahoo! ad optimizers only optimizes CTR.

I hope you enjoyed this boot camp series fresh from SMX West and can leverage these fundamentals to realize much success with your search marketing!