SES Chicago: Taking Over a Paid Search Account Like a Pro #seschi #ppc #sem

Today, I sat in on the “Taking Over a Paid Search Account Like a Pro” session moderated by Matt Lawson (Marin Software) and panelists Oliver Sowards (Performics), Jeremy Hull (iProspect) and Josh Dreller (Fuor Digital). The high-level guidance they provided for online marketers taking over existing paid search campaigns was full of great advice; below you'll find a summary of their recommendations.

Review the Account Structure 

The first step when taking over a paid search campaign is to ask yourself if you want to keep the existing account/campaign structure or start over – and why or why not. If you decide restructuring is needed, your first phase is to audit the existing account beginning with the keywords, ads and results. Don’t forget to review the current account structure and the naming of campaigns and ad groups.

At this time, you should also establish campaign goals to help guide you through this transition and restructuring process. Other considerations include:

1. Budget allocation. Allocate first to where campaign is most effective
2. Functionality. Targeting, language, ad extensions
3. Reporting and analysis. Roll up to the campaign level so you can see what different segments are doing based on your goals -- you can deep dive later into ad group or keyword level.

Plan Your Approach

During this phase, it's important to establish your account overhaul project timeline.  Be sure to check in with the IT department to see if they're planning any major site or technology changes that you should be aware of -- you don't want to get everything set up only to find out all your landing page URLs are about to change! You should also begin to think about the account structure you want and work with the engines to establish your accounts and setup your billing process.

Research Your Options

Keep in mind that research is an ongoing function. Use your original campaign goals to keep you focused and earmark other discoveries through research for later action. Research options include other advertising efforts, marketing collateral, web analytics, competitor analysis and much more.

Build Your Campaigns

After you have concluded that you have enough data and insights from your research efforts, you move into the build phase. The build phase is when you prepare your keywords and generate and assign attributes. You can also concatenate attributes to create new campaigns and ad groups as appropriate. Don’t forget to look into targeting and device options!

Throughout this process, follow the money. Look at where spend is going and where revenue is coming in.

More to come from SES Chicago tomorrow, stay tuned here and follow us on Twitter for more on-the-ground coverage!