PPC Super Nanny

June 3, 2010
by Andrew Harris

I have been managing PPC campaigns for nearly 5 years now, and in November I became a parent for the first time. Since the arrival of my boy I have noticed that managing a PPC campaign is very similar to parenthood. A little random I know. This thought may be due to sleep deprivation however by the end of this blog, I am confident that I will have you thinking along the same lines.

Planning

So, you’re planning on starting a new PPC campaign. Before you give birth to the campaign, you must plan. I spent a fortune on gadgets, tools, toys and parenting books. You should do the same before starting your PPC campaign. Plan and research your target audience, carefully consider your landing page layout, what keywords should you use, and what match type suits your objectives based. What USP’a and call to action should you use in your adverts to make you stand out from your competition. Planning is essential to a successful PPC campaign. Don’t turn your campaign on and then find yourself with a pooey bum with no new nappies.

The Birth

We arrived in a panic and the Midwife asks “what is your birthing plan?” I went slightly bleary eyed and I replied with a confused mumble “drugs and then push?”

Unlike a birth, you can carefully plan the day to activate your PPC campaign. You should carefully consider your plan of action especially for the first day. Your first live day is vitally important, as a good CTR can have a massive effect on your quality score.

I recommend that you should start your PPC campaign on a Monday giving you a full working week to monitor your campaign closely. You should place slightly higher Max CPC’s for the first day in order to achieve a higher position and therefore a higher CTR, which will in turn give you a great quality score.

For a short period of time, you should allow your adverts to rotate equally rather than “optimised”. This will allow you to manually audit the adverts based on conversion rates and CTR before switching to the optimised settings.

These are some examples of what decisions should be made before activating your campaign.

It’s a Baby

Congratulations, you are now the proud parent of a PPC campaign. Seeing your advert live on Google for the first time will make you feel so proud. Don’t be mistaken, the picture below isn’t George Clooney.

george-clooney

For the first few weeks, you will need to keep a very close eye on it, making sure your baby is fine every few hours. From time to time your new baby will give you sleepless nights, but don’t give in.

When a baby cries, you check the nappy, give him a feed, give him a cuddle and then time for a snooze. If your PPC campaign goes offline or conversion drops. Check the keywords, check your ads, check your bid and budget settings and then put it back down to bed.

Toddlers

Hasn’t your baby grown fast! All your love and attention has resulted in a highly converting PPC campaign. As a result your budget and campaigns have grown. From time to time your campaign may need to go on the naughty step. Now would be a good time to start considering hiring a super nanny. This will allow you to get back to running your business whilst leaving your PPC campaign in safe hands.

At this stage, you should consider outsourcing your PPC campaign to a SME specialist. As your PPC campaign is your baby, ensure you do the correct safety checks by asking the correct questions.

Early Learning

Your nanny has done an excellent job. Your child has grown and developed. At this stage your PPC campaign is pushing long tail and generic terms. You find yourself becoming a leading brand in your sector. It is now time to look for a larger agency. You need to find an agency which will push your campaign, pass its exams, and be top of its class.

Your agency should be looking to expand your campaigns exposure whilst maintain your ROI targets. Your agency will be exploring the content network, and other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing. To ensure your campaign passes with flying colours, tracking is set up so that performance can be measured.

At this stage, it is recommended to test and refine new things. Test new landing pages and USP/CTA within your adverts. Some will work well, some will not. When I was going through this stage, I tested a centre part hair cut. THAT clearly did not work well.

supernanny-image1

Teenager

We all know teenagers are a little emotional and temperamental. At this stage, your PPC campaign is your major source for new business. Therefore you need to prepare and monitor the campaign carefully. Your search agency should be experts in managing seasonal and competitor changes, so that your PPC campaign is consistency updated to ensure temperamental emotional strops do not occur.

Adulthood

The time has come; your baby is all grown up and you have established a great relationship with your search agency. Perhaps it is time to move on. Maybe it is time to grow your family with a new baby. Maybe it is time to give birth to a SEO, Social, Display or even affiliate marketing baby.

Parenthood and PPC campaign management is a bumpy ride. Push the boundaries and learn from you mistakes but most of all enjoy it. I am

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