Navigate by category below to locate answers to questions about pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns, digital accounts, ad technology, campaign performance and reporting, and PPC competition.
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PPC call tracking facilitates the capture of search engine metadata associated with call conversions. This metadata becomes powerful information when it is used as the fuel for automated bidding or “machine learning” algorithms within a PPC platform.
PPC platforms and their integral organic search engine both utilize spiders to crawl landing pages.
The ranking signals used for organic search and PPC share similar characteristics. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that PPC and SEO are synergistic.
It’s an indirect, versus a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
Digital ad blindness happens when an ad is seen so frequently that viewers become oblivious to the ad.
“Ad blindness” occurs when viewers are over-exposed to an ad. As a result, they no longer mentally register the ad.
Display ads are more vulnerable to this phenomenon because images are recognized more readily.
Although digital advertising campaigns can become valuable business assets, it is difficult for a hacker to commit PPC intellectual copy theft by stealing or copying them successfully.
Each PPC campaign is an evolving component of a system highly dependent upon the website, and the business it drives traffic to. Because of this, to steal a campaign you would need to steal the website it is associated with. If someone did choose to commit IP theft, they would face an array of problems and it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
How are they different? Display ad campaigns utilize an image as the central focus of the ad, while search ads are text-based. But the difference between display ads and search ads is more fundamental: their placement, function, and reach. Display ads are smart billboard-style ads that functionally are advertisements, whereas search ads are a form of a direct marketing offer.
There are many reasons why a PPC Campaign might fail. From incorrect campaign deployment to a shopping feed being improperly optimized. Here are some of the most common that we see. Website Implementation Mistakes The site may have major CRO problems. It’s one of the most common and often the first thing we check. The campaign is configured improperly. For
We recommend spending enough to generate at least 20 clicks per day in most markets, in order to accumulate statistically meaningful data in each 24-hour period.
The daily spend is the number of clicks times the average cost per click. So, the question becomes what is the average cost per click (CPC)?
PPC call tracking facilitates the capture of search engine metadata associated with call conversions. This metadata becomes powerful information when it is used as the fuel for automated bidding or “machine learning” algorithms within a PPC platform.
PPC Telemetry™ monitors client campaigns in realtime, pulling data from real-time API’s, and can generate alerts when they exceed preset boundaries, conditions, or critical operating limits.
There are many benefits to our clients. One example, active alerts speed the optimization of campaigns. Frequently as we walk ads through split-test optimization cycles, new ads are introduced, we’ll calculate the number of clicks on both ads required to provide a statistically significant result. As soon as that alert triggers, we’re able to make a decision on a winning ad and introduce a new one to replace the loser.
A second example: automated bidding takes up to 14 days to converge and lock, so we’ll set alerts when campaigns are coming out of learning mode. When ads are disapproved or payment methods fail, we can act on it immediately.
There are many other situations where alerts accelerate improvements.
The benefits from monitoring campaigns vary based upon the vertical market the campaign serves, the design of the campaign, and business objectives of the advertiser. We can design campaigns that require little monitoring. For ambitious campaigns in competitive markets some degree of ongoing monitoring and optimization often makes sense and is beneficial to the advertisers’ return on advertising spend.
SWOT analysis we identify a set of factors that collective evaluate the effectiveness of a website in generating engagement and conversions of PPC generated site traffic.
Analyzing Landing Page Copy: Value Proposition(s), Features, & Benefits Landing page copy analysis involves identifying what message in ad copy and website content are most effective in converting site visitors to potential customers and clients. The quality of landing page copy, and ad copy is a major factor in successfully engaging site visitors’ interest. The rules for landing page copy
Traffic on a business website can be segmented into multiple “website visitor personas”. Identifying the site visitor personas can lead marketers to advertising messaging, and webpage design which perform more efficiently. We use are a number of methods to identify website visitor personas. All of them rely upon a baseline understanding of the product marketing aspects of the business. With
A CRO baseline is first established using web analytics. We identify navigation paths they take as they move through the site. We may, with your permission install heat maps that record user navigation across pages.
PPC call tracking facilitates the capture of search engine metadata associated with call conversions. This metadata becomes powerful information when it is used as the fuel for automated bidding or “machine learning” algorithms within a PPC platform.
To gain Shopify partner access to your eCommerce site, we’ll issue a request for access from our Shopify Partner dashboard. Before doing so, we’ll need to obtain your “native” Shopify address. That’s the address that Shopify initially assigned to your site, before it was associated with your domain name. Usually it looks something like “domain name.myshopify.com” or “domain-name.myshopify.com. It’s shown
Please use the following instructions to grant administrative access in WordPress to Blastoff Labs: Log into WordPress and access the dashboard Navigate to the “User” section Select “Add New User” Complete user name with: Blastoff Labs Use the email below: Scroll to the bottom and select “Admin” as the type of privileges you are granting Below this is a checkbox
In your project proposal, we will provide a Gantt chart schedule for the project including start date, milestone, and planned duration of key tasks. Typically projects are started immediately when taken on. There are some exceptions, for example eCommerce projects tend to exert strong demand in the fourth quarter tying up key resources.
When onboarding PPC projects we’ll send you a list of onboarding checklists, which are some requests that include instructions. The majority of items are to request you take some simple actions linking accounts. They are actions to set up to make providing any needed materials, account links, media, and questions. Onboarding steps vary based upon the type of campaign(s), the
Before starting development of a PPC Ad search campaign, we’ll ask “What search queries do you expect will be used to search for your product or service?”.
Who are your paid search competitors? In the process of developing PPC campaign(s), we begin by asking you who you perceive as your PPC search competitors. The reason we ask this question of our clients is that we want to know who you see as your 6 to 10 most significant direct competitors. Mostly, those that come to mind quickly.
Formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console (GSC) access helps Blastoff Labs for a number of PPC campaign management activities.
Blastoff Labs utilizes Google Tag Manager (GTM) access for a number of purposes, including PPC campaign conversion tracking. Google Tag Manager (GTM) simplifies the management of conversion tracking on your site. It eliminates the requirement to involve a web developer when tracking tags are added, removed, or edited on your website — among many other benefits. To share access to
This is to request that you share Google Analytics (GA) Access with Blastoff Labs. We utilize it for a number of purposes: • Testing and monitoring conversion tracking. • Monitoring quantified engagement metrics, and • Understanding paid traffic flow landing on and traversing sites. • Analyze web pages for conversion efficiency issues. To share access to Google Analytics, please login
Our Google Ads MCC (multi-client) agency account provides a mechanism for sharing Google Ads account access. This allows us to work in your account without…
To share Bing Ads access (now called Microsoft Advertising), email us your account number. It’s in the upper right corner when you’re logged in at Ads.Microsoft.com Microsoft account numbers are 8 digits long, start with an F or X. We’ll enter your account number into our Microsoft Agency Account, and a Bing Ads access request email will be sent to the
PPC call tracking facilitates the capture of search engine metadata associated with call conversions. This metadata becomes powerful information when it is used as the fuel for automated bidding or “machine learning” algorithms within a PPC platform.
We run display campaigns on manual bidding before migrating them onto automated bidding. Automated bidding works better when there is a baseline of campaign metrics to extract bidding signals from. We find that automated bidding machine learning works better if before using it, a baseline of performance metrics exists. The baseline of campaign metrics also allows us to compare manually
Our campaign performance reports provide charts and summaries of key engagement, conversion, and financial metrics, compared to a previous reporting period.
Project update interval varies depending upon the vertical market, urgency of the project in relation to the client’s business, and the phase of work that campaigns are in. When campaigns are in design, PPC client communications typically include some informal email back and forth to resolve open issues, and weekly to bi-weekly project timeline/milestone updates; they’re built into the schedule
When we first launch PPC campaigns, sometimes we will put them in “manual bidding mode” which is the simplest and most straightforward form of adjusting PPC campaign bids. Once the initial bids are set, the PPC bid management is not “taken care of”; it’s a process. After setting the initial bids, data will start to accumulate showing us whether the
PPC call tracking facilitates the capture of search engine metadata associated with call conversions. This metadata becomes powerful information when it is used as the fuel for automated bidding or “machine learning” algorithms within a PPC platform.
Advertisers are naturally concerned with the paid search performance of their campaigns because it impacts both top-line revenue and expenses. Skillfully executed, consistent PPC account performance management will boost the return on your paid search campaigns, while lowering risk. The question becomes what degree of management, and that varies depending upon the environment the campaign operates in, and the stage
Q: Can you conduct PPC campaign performance briefings for our company leaders and select outside investors? A: Sure, we’re experienced in presenting campaign performance briefings to any group or level of your management team that’s helpful to your company. We can develop a summary of your digital advertising initiatives: Historical performance Current performance Strategic insights Opportunities for optimization of performance
We manage digital ad project status using the Wrike project management system. We’ll typically send Gantt chart timelines embedded within a pdf slide deck. Gantt charts show the project workflow as a diagram, including the status of the project’s current phase of work and impending milestones.
Our standard campaign reporting frequency is monthly. We provide analysis and commentary along as an integral part of each report. Arrangements can be made to report more frequently in special situations, for example for high-intensity launch campaigns, special event campaigns, and when launching into new markets with an aggressive timeline. At times we meet as frequently as weekly to review
How can we track campaign performance? Our PPC campaign reporting is designed to provide a comprehensive view of campaign performance. Charts and tables in the reports document all relevant and pertinent account and campaign metrics. Key performance indicators (KPIs) summarize important metrics change from a prior period to the current reporting period. Embedded within our PPC campaign performance reports, we
PPC Campaigns need to have fault monitoring in place because they can run into fault conditions. For example, the credit card on file to pay ad spend may expire. Or a bot may flag an ad and disable it. Shopping products may develop price mismatches. In all of these cases, we catch and resolve the issues quickly because we monitor
PPC campaign management consistency is built into the way Blastoff Labs works day-to-day, for good reason. We take an interest in optimizing each campaign and ensuring that it’s performing well for our clients. That’s why it’s built into each project. A common misunderstanding that advertisers hold, is that if a campaign is built skillfully, then it’s a turnkey operation after
PPC call tracking facilitates the capture of search engine metadata associated with call conversions. This metadata becomes powerful information when it is used as the fuel for automated bidding or “machine learning” algorithms within a PPC platform.
This question sometimes arises: should we outsource PPC campaign management, or manage our PPC campaigns in-house? Let’s rephrase the question as “can we manage our PPC campaigns in-house at some point after launch, or should we have them managed?”. Here’s a key aspect thing to understand when considering the question: Accumulating the understanding to operate PPC campaigns is not a
Any time we spend handling or discussing PPC campaign change requests from clients is complimentary. We want our clients to feel at ease about making changes. Frequently we receive great suggestions because they understand their business so well. We take those suggestions and put them throughout “PPC logic/experience” filter.
Campaign development bears some similarities to software development. Some campaigns, like some software apps, can be built and launched in a few hours or a few days. However, in today’s PPC environment that’s not usually the best way to proceed. PPC campaign performance flows from a bit more of a “slower cook” approach – a more methodical and systematic design process.
Will there be a timeline for the project? Yes, we build project timelines showing workflows, durations, and milestones at the start of a project. The steps for building each type of campaign, and related services are described in detail on the “Services” main menu choices on this site.
Sure, we can provide a phone or Zoom consultation to discuss your digital advertising objectives. Just complete the form on the Contact page. To get the most out of a consultation, please consider the following questions beforehand. You do not need to have all the answers; just the first two are required: What business sector do the campaigns operate in?
When deciding whether to bid on an RFP, we treat it like any other incoming project. If it looks like a good fit for us then we may choose to submit a proposal in response. Typically, RFPs are issued by large, slower-moving organizations and bureaucracies such as governmental entities, military contractors, and large businesses in lagging business sectors. Their project
We don’t take on projects where the client rolls up their sleeves working on the internals of advertising campaigns themselves, are trained to design PPC campaigns, or are required to spend their time working on them on a day-to-day basis. Our relationship with clients is designed to take the details of campaign design and optimization off their hands, so they
After onboarding is complete we will provide a project plan timeline including ad campaign deliverables, tasks and milestones. During campaign development, we’ll provide updates on ad campaign deliverables as appropriate. Once the campaign(s) are launched, you’ll have full access to view all aspects of the campaign, which becomes your intellectual property. After campaign launch you’ll receive regular campaign performance reports. The
When onboarding a PPC project, the first email clients receive is a set of “onboarding” action requests and questions. Typically, these are links to step-by-step instructions for sharing access to advertising and analytics accounts. Usually, access to accounts can be shared in a few minutes without issue. If problems are encountered, we are available to assist. Some examples of accounts
PPC call tracking facilitates the capture of search engine metadata associated with call conversions. This metadata becomes powerful information when it is used as the fuel for automated bidding or “machine learning” algorithms within a PPC platform.
The answer is yes, it is possible to sell a PPC account — but with some qualifiers and caveats. First, a PPC campaign cannot literally be sold as a self-contained asset, because it is software that runs on a PPC platform owned by the platform provider. Ownership of the account is subject to the overarching terms and restrictions you agree
PPC account ownership and PPC campaign ownership should not even be something an advertiser has to be concerned about, but it is. Blastoff Labs always makes sure the advertiser owns associated accounts. If we transfer a legacy account in, create an account for you, or design a campaign our policy is the same. Whether it is a Google Ads account,
If a client had prepaid funds on account for PPC agency services yet to be rendered and decided to stop work, they would be eligible for a partial refund. We would refund the unused portion of the payment for PPC agency services, pro-rated. However, work completed is not refundable. Like software development and construction projects, PPC campaign building and optimization
Given prevailing practices with paid search agencies, it’s reasonable to ask “Is there a contract lock-in period for Blastoff Labs’ services?”. Contract lock-in periods have been widely used in the digital ad industry, but we don’t believe in them. Our clients are free to discontinue use of our services. We have a superior way to retain our clients that works
Non-US Clients? Sure, we frequently take on non-US clients. Blastoff has PPC advertising clients from Western Europe, Australia, Singapore, South America, and the Middle East. We always find a way to handle any time zone challenges. We also have experience with strategies, methods, and tradeoffs for targeting digital advertising accounts and PPC campaigns to multiple countries and continents.
PPC campaign success is of course the objective of all our clients.
Two metrics define the success of a PPC campaign. The most important is “net advertising margin”. The second is return on ad spend (ROAS), which measures ad spend efficiency.
How long does it take to determine if a PPC campaign will generate a positive PPC ROI (return on investment)? Paid search success is measurable, but the time frame required to reach success varies widely depending upon the type of campaign, the associated website, the level of competition, ad spend, the quality of the campaign — and other intangibles. We
If you are an existing client, Blastoff Labs may assist with PPC account suspensions. But it is unlikely to happen. We don’t take on suspension projects because the only person the ad platform will talk to is the account owner. What you should do is to file a written request for assistance from the help link in your Merchant Center.
We recommend spending enough to generate at least 20 clicks per day in most markets, in order to accumulate statistically meaningful data in each 24-hour period.
The daily spend is the number of clicks times the average cost per click. So, the question becomes what is the average cost per click (CPC)?
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After optimization & moving to automated bidding, the account shows a 600% average return on ad spend …