best practices for testing ppc landing pages & ad copy
DESCRIPTION
Learn the best practices for A/B Testing Ad Copy and Landing Pages with our presenters Larry Kim from WordStream and Carlos Del Rio of Unbounce. Visit our website on http://www.wordstream.comTRANSCRIPT
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Best Practices for Testing PPC Landing Pages & Ad Copy
June 20, 2012
Larry Kim, WordStream
Carlos Del Rio, Unbounce
• Introductions
• Speaker introductions
• Best Practices for A/B Testing Ad Copy
• Best Practices for A/B Testing Landing Pages
• Q&A
Today’s Agenda
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Take Part in Live Blogging on Twitter / Google+
• Include the hashtag #wsppcabtests in your Google+ status updates,Twitter tweets,, etc.
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Speaker Introductions
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• Carlos Del Rio
– Director of Conversion Analysis & Digital Strategy
– Co-author of User Driven Change: Give Them
What They Want and A Strategic Framework for
Emerging Media
• Larry Kim
– Founder, CTO, WordStream, Inc.
– Been doing PPC & SEO for 10 years
– 3 years ago, started WordStream
– Today we’re an industry-leading provider of a PPC
Management Platform and Keyword Research
Tools
– WordStream helps people get their website found
on the internet!
Let’s learn a little about you….
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Quick Poll
How long have you been involved with Search
Marketing?
o Less than 1 year
o 1-3 years
o 3-5 years
o 5+ years
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Quick Poll
How would you describe your Search Marketing
results?
o I’m new to Search Marketing
o Who knows – I don’t measure my results
o Disappointing – I expected so much more from PPC
o Satisfactory – I’m seeing return on my investment into
PPC
o Stellar – PPC is my most successful lead/traffic
generating channel
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Best Practices for A/B Testing Your Text Ads
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Advertiser A
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Advertiser A – 14% Click Through Rate
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Advertiser A – Avg. Quality Score of 8.8
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Advertiser B
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Advertiser B – 1.3% Click Through Rate
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Advertiser B – Avg. Quality Score 3.8
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• Why Advertiser B is Struggling and Why Advertiser A
is Rocking
• The purpose of Ad Text Optimization
• What’s a Good Click Through Rate?
• How to Optimize your Ads!
In My Ad Text Presentation You’ll Get:
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What is the Goal of Ad Text Optimization?
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• Should be to try to get the highest possible Click
Through Rate. Why?
• Google rewards high CTR on keywords/ads with:
– Higher AdRank (More Exposure)
– Lower Cost Per Click (Save Money)
– More impression share
• Google punishes ads that have low CTR on
keywords/ads.
The Purpose of Ad Text Optimization
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Example Relationship Between CPC and QS
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Example Relationship Between CPA & QS
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• What about Conversion Rates & Cost-Per-
Conversion?
– It’s also very important
– Carlos will talk about converting the your clicks into
conversions in just a few minutes!
The Purpose of Ad Text Optimization (Continued)
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What is a Good Click Through Rate (CTR) for my Ads?
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What’s a Good CTR for my Ads?
• It depends on your ad position, keyword selection,
and other factors.
• Lets talk about CTR benchmarks!
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• Baseline your performance
• A free, instant PPC audit in under a minute!
• Grades your AdWords account performance based on the 8 PPC metrics that really matter
• Compares how you’re doing against other accounts of similar size (monthly spend)
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Grade Yourself! http://www.wordstream.com/google-adwords
www.wordstream.com/google-adwords
Grade Your Click Through Rate!
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Grade Your Ads!
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OK, so now, how do I optimize my Ads?
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A Common Ad Text Misconception
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“Most people think they’ve tested 20 Google ads but
they really just tested 2 ads 10 different times.” – Dr.
Glenn Livingston (via Perry Marshall)
What Ad Text Optimization is Not
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Forrest vs. Leaves
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“Forrest”
• “Creative Stuff”
– Your Offer
– Your USP
– Your Guarantee
• “Technical Stuff”
– Campaign Structure
– Ad Extensions
– (etc.)
“Leaves”
• Grammar
– Punctuation
– Capitalization
– Spelling
Our Focus for
Today!
Ad Text Optimization: Creative Stuff
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Ad Text Example
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1. Urgent
2. Unique
3. Useful
4. Ultra- Specific
Example
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Example #1
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Example # 2
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3 Tips on How To Figure out your USP / Offer
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Ask your customers!
• What is your #1 question about ____?
• What caused you to look for ____ today?
• What would you like us to help you with today?
Bob Bly’s Four U’s of Great Ads:
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1. Urgent
2. Unique
3. Useful
4. Ultra- Specific
Ad Text Optimization: Technical Stuff
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– Use specific keywords and negative keywords
– Group together closely related keywords
– Write relevant text ads and destination pages
– Repeat! (But this is actually a lot of work, so leverage software for this!)
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Organization impacts Click Through Rate & Quality Score
Use Specific Mid Tail Keywords
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Use Negative Keywords
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Group and Organize Your Keyword List
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Follow Technical Best Practices
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Leverage Ad Extensions – Pimp Your PPC Ads!
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Put it into practice
1. Capture your baseline (grade your account)
2. Identify under performing ads
3. Select one or two and replace with new copy
4. Wait…
5. Measure,
6. Repeat!!!
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Summary
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• Successful Ad Text Optimization is a combination of
3 things:
– Communicating your USP/Offer/Guarantee in a way
that stands out in a big way!
– Using all the technical best practices, like keyword
selection, segmentation, and use of advanced
features like ad extensions.
– Build it into your process!
Best Practices for A/B testing Landing Pages
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What ALL Good Landing Pages Have
1.) Headline
Buy Xena Warrior Princess Chakram
2.) Demonstration
3.) Value
4.) Support
Wow! The free shipping got her in two days!
- Happy McCustomer
5.) Action
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What That Might Look Like
1. Unique value proposition in a
concise headline
2. Image/video showing context
of use
3. Core benefit statement
4. Request for data (and fair
value item in exchange)
5. Strong Call to Action
6. Trust elements
7. Social Sharing Devices
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Start With Brainstorming
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Then Design
Include Everything Anyone Could Want
Refine
Test
Base Variations
Celebrate?!
Base -20% -32% -1%
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Now What?!
Call In The Reserves
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Brainstorm
Redeploy
Okay, Now Celebrate!
Base 25% -1% 31%
Content Test
Base Medium Short
Headline Test
Base
VS.
Button CTA Test
Base
VS.
VS.
No Button
Generation 3
27% 35% 74%
Base Conversion: 10% Final Conversion: 17.4%
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The Process
Phase One
Brainstorm Content
Design and Write
Create More Content Than You Need
Create Control Page
Create Variations
Test
Phase 2 and On
Analyze Your Results
Choose New Control
Revise Variations
Test Again
Things to Test
Headline
Call to Action
Large Images
Length of Content
Special Offers
• Unbounce
– 30 day free trial
– 50% off for 3 months with promo code WSwebinar503
– Get started at http://try.unbounce.com/with-wordstream/
• WordStream
– Grade your account
– Then get a free account assessment with one of our Search experts
– We’ll help you identify missed opportunities and more
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Thank you for attending Unbounce and WordStream’s webinar on:
How to Use Killer Landing Pages to Get Better PPC Results.
#wsppcabtests
Evaluate your text ads today!
http://www.wordstream.com/google-adwords
Learn more about Unbounce:
http://try.unbounce.com/with-wordstream Or contact us directly:
Carlos del Rio
Larry Kim
Your Questions
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