Top 10 Ways to Max Out on adCenter

Now that you plan to use Microsoft®’s new advertising platform, adcenter, there are ways to maximize your investment. With pay-per-click, or ppc, advertising, taking shortcuts is easy and tempting, but also costly. Cover these 10 bases, and you will get the most from your adcenter spend.

1. Set a sustainable budget. Effective ppc takes time. Decide how much you can afford over a 12-month period, and stick with it. Start small and ramp up expenditures as you refine your campaign and achieve results.

2. Define your objectives. Some companies find ppc mysterious and think throwing money at it is a good way to test the waters. But there is no mystery to adcenter. Its back end is loaded with robust reporting and analysis tools. To use them, you must first calculate your desired click-through rate, conversion rate and return-on-investment metrics.

3. Profile your customer. A standout feature of adcenter is its ability to target customers by geography, gender and time of day or week. However, these capabilities are useful only if you define the who, where and when of your ideal audience. The clearer your target, the higher your conversions.

4. Select keywords carefully. adcenter offers a sophisticated keyword-selection tool called adLabs. Take advantage of it not only to find the right keywords, but also the best ways to combine them, and the best times to use them.

5. Do the splits. “Split testing” is a solid ppc technique of changing one or two variables (such as a keyword or time of day) in a campaign to see which works better. With adcenter’s ability to target and report, there is no excuse not to do it.

6. Use a landing page. After people click on your ppc ad, where they go next is crucial. Best is to create a specific landing page that fulfills the expectation of the ad and clearly explains the next action.

7. Track results. adcenter updates campaign statistics daily, and even hourly, in some cases. Without monitoring progress, companies tend to overspend, under spend or miss obvious ways to improve results.

8. Identify the weak links … Several things have to fall into place for maximum ppc efficiency. Analyze what is working— and what is not. Low click-throughs often indicate weak keyword choices. Low conversions might suggest a problem with the landing page.

9. … And make adjustments. ppc is all about continuous improvement. Keywords not working? More than likely, further research will uncover better ones. Interviewing a few customers might identify an easy fix to a flawed landing page.

10. Build relationships with adcenter support. Like any new software product, adcenter has its occasional glitches and inconveniences. Get to know the adcenter Client Center so you can keep your campaign rolling.

One reason ppc is so attractive is results can be predicted and then measured. Since adcenter brings a new level of analytics to the ppc arena, it has enormous potential for advertisers. Still, a tool is only as good as the person using it, so follow these tips and be the best you can be!

Aaron Wittersheim is president of Whoast Inc., a suburban Chicago search-marketing firm. For more information, visit http://www.whoast.com