Ecommerce Blog

Thanks again to Ryan Gibson from the Rimm-Kaufman Group for sharing some top-notch tips on paid search. If you missed the call, we will be posting the full length replay on the Elastic Path website. Until then, here’s a recap of the main points:

Keyword Development is 50% of Your Success

Keyword research is essential because it ultimately determines which searches your ads will appear for. Keywords must be appropriate, specific and capture the variations of how people search for the products you sell.

“Long tail” terms are desirable. Although they don’t get a lot of clicks, there is not much competition and it’s the specificity that makes them high-converting. You can also get them low-cost, and the lower the cost, the lower the risk. You’re not spending anything unless they are clicked on. Long tail terms in aggregate may be attracting a small percentage of clicks but be driving the highest number of sales because they convert highly.

General (and shorter) queries may indicate one is in research stage and thus, convert lower than more specific searches, when customers are aware of exactly what they are looking for.

Keyword List Tips

Test 3-10 Keywords per SKU

Modifiers don’t count, such as “buy widgets” or “buy widgets online.” Also, branded terms don’t count. Rather, you want to test out unique terms. So start with a URL (product page, right down to the sku - so if you sell blue and red widgets, they have their own keywords, as do different sizes). 2 benefits to this approach are:

1. Ensures you have the product you’re creating the term for
2. Makes it easier to tie up correct landing pages

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9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next
Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

It’s not hard to find examples of PPC best-practice violations. In fact, it’s darn easy - too many online retailers have sloppy paid search campaigns. As you will see, it’s often the advertisers with big budgets that are “doing it wrong.”

Though these retailers will not be ticketed, fined, jailed or suspended for these offenses, the lost revenue and poor campaign performance they experience may be far more costly.

#9 - Stupid DKI (Dynamic Keyword Insertion)

Big-budget advertisers often bid on so many keywords, they often use Dynamic Keyword Insertion to show the keyword the searcher has queried in the ad text. Good idea, since click through is typically higher when there’s that extra keyword relevance. Unfortunately, many lists are so big they include nonsensical keyword phrases most likely scraped off some keyword research tool that picked up automated rank check software queries.

“Sally Hansen nail polish”

Nothing moisturizes and refreshes the skin like a coat of nail polish!

“home hair cutting”

“Duhahhhh…I was just on my way hair cutting home, officer…” Sounds like Shopzilla’s had a few too many highballs. Guilty on both counts of DKI.

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The Key to PPC for Online Retailers
Free webinar: May 15th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Ryan Gibson, Director of Marketing, The Rimm-Kaufman Group
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos