PPC Ian

Grow Your Business: Free $100 AdMedia Credit

Posted by: PPC Ian Comments: Be the first person to comment

May. 21

I’m a huge believer in the diversification of traffic sources. In the world of digital marketing, there is only so much cost-effective search demand on major search engines. A winning strategy involves diversification across many search engines, ad networks, social networks, and so much more. In diversifying traffic, I recommend reaching out and testing different advertising networks. Today, I am thrilled to share one of my favorites (A PPC Ian Blog Sponsor), AdMedia. In addition to introducing this awesome ad network, I’m also thrilled to share a special promotion they are running with their Free $100 AdMedia Credit. It’s easy: When you open an account and make your initial deposit, AdMedia will match your deposit up to $100!

AdMedia is the Superior Precision Marketing Platform. Their network spans 1,000s of sites across a plethora of verticals, offering a multitude of ways to increase digital advertising traffic and conversions for your business.

I’m particularly impressed with AdMedia for two reasons. First, they have a really great team. You may recall that Francesca from AdMedia wrote this guest post here on PPC Ian just a few months ago. Second, AdMedia’s suite of advertising solutions is truly comprehensive. They’re more than just a contextual network. AdMedia offers solutions that target prospective customers from so many angles. Some examples:

Contextual targeting based on keywords, subject matter, and the site’s theme.
Advanced remarketing solutions that make it easy for customers to navigate back to your site.
Really cool image overlay ads and intextual ads, products that make the overall site experience more interesting for publishers, advertisers, and consumers. Advertise to prospective customers in new and exciting ways outside the standard search and display campaigns.
Thank you email advertising, 404 Bucks, and Ditto domains products. AdMedia offers a very clever and comprehensive suite of advertising opportunities. Chat with them today and learn new ways of advertising you may have not thought of before!

With their Free $100 AdMedia Credit (they will match your initial deposit up to $100), I highly recommend giving AdMedia a spin. It’s a super way to diversify and expand your digital marketing program.

Image in this post © AdMedia

Posted in: Campaign Tips | Tags: admedia, advertising credit | Comments: Be the first person to comment!

Leverage Ad Copy Across Your Organization

Posted by: PPC Ian Comments: 2 comments so far

May. 20

I’m a huge fan of ad copy testing. Implement Google conversion tracking, set your campaigns to optimize for conversions, and test every single day. Sooner or later, your overall system conversion rate (from impression to conversion on your site) will increase! This means higher revenue and higher margins (since Google rewards increased CTRs with lower CPCs). In addition to catapulting your PPC program to the next level, ad copy testing can have implications and use cases across your entire organization. Here are a few of my favorite use cases:

Leverage ad copy to test offline marketing messages. Does your company do direct mail? How about press releases? How about print ads in magazines and newsletters? One thing is for sure: The cost of testing messages on Google AdWords and Bing Ads is extremely cost effective. Collaborate with your entire marketing organization. Test messages via PPC before running them in other marketing programs. The added benefit: Ideas that come from your offline marketing organization may end up as winning online messages.
Consider incorporating winning ads into your website’s language. You should always be testing ads, landing pages, and user experience. I’m a big fan of Big Testing, a concept made popular by my friend Scott Brinker, Co-Founder and CTO of ion interactive. If you’re running big tests on your landing pages and website, you may not be quite as focused on marketing language and value proposition. This is where you can gain so leverage from your search marketing program. Leverage SEM to help drive brand positioning and value proposition on your website.
Communicate winning ad copy with your call center. If you have a large call center, perhaps they can benefit from your winning ad copy by weaving components of your ads into call center scripts. It’s all about integrating your winning marketing language across the customer experience. Also, make sure to sit in and listen to customer calls. Spend time with your call center reps. Call centers are an amazing source of ad copy testing inspiration.

I hope these tips help out. How do you leverage ad copy testing for the benefit of your overall company?

Posted in: Campaign Tips | Tags: ad copy, ad copy testing | Comments: 2 comments so far, join the discussion!

Are You A Big Tipper?

Posted by: PPC Ian Comments: Be the first person to comment

May. 14

When it comes to digital marketing, I’m about as frugal as they get. I like to get the absolute maximum return for my advertising dollars. It’s all about cutting costs, and being efficient and optimal. When it comes to life, I’m prudent from a financial standpoint. However, I do enjoy tipping and consider myself to be a big tipper. It really is all about doing the right thing. When someone does a good job and provides good/great service, I like to give a great tip. Many people rely on tips as an important source of income. Tips are my way of giving back and making others smile.

I recently had the pleasure of attending two amazing digital marketing conferences: I spoke at Search Insider Summit and I attended AdWords Performance Forum. At these conferences, there were many opportunities to tip: waiters, hotel employees, housekeeping, drivers, and so much more. I took these opportunities to tip, I always bring a stack of fives and singles when I travel, for this very reason.

In life and business, I have noticed that there are others like me who enjoy tipping. However, I have also noticed that there are people who do not tip. I like to pay attention to the tipping habits of others because you can learn a lot about someone from their tipping generosity (or lack thereof). Just a few points you may wish to ponder, when analyzing someone from a tip perspective:

Are they generous, or could they be cheap? Generous is a very good thing, someone generous likes to look out for and take care of others. They are a team player. Someone cheap sometimes has poor judgment, because they fail to invest money when it makes prudent financial sense or is simply the right thing to do. Cheap, however, is not to be confused with frugal. Someone who is frugal is often smart because they cut costs on the right items but are smart about investing when it makes sense. Frugal individuals can still be tippers, but cheap individuals are often not.
Do they truly care about others? Do they value the happiness of others? Do they value good work and how it adds value to society? If someone likes to tip, I am often able to infer great things about that person. If they avoid tipping in very key situations, I sometimes start to wonder.
If I were to do business with this person, would they try to nickel and dime me? Or, are they going to be more flexible and collaborative when it comes to money.
Does this person like to cut corners? Tipping is a “finishing touch” in my opinion. Those who like to tip are leaving no stone unturned, they don’t like to cut corners.
Does this person have the right values and global perspective (caring about others and not only themselves)? Tipping can help demonstrate character.

Important word of caution: You do not want to fully understand someone based on their tipping habits alone. That would be far too little data. It’s just like digital marketing: You need a statistically significant sample size to truly understand someone. Tipping alone is not enough. However, observing someone’s tipping habits can help round out your perception.

As you journey through life and also business, pay attention to tipping. See what others do, it can sometimes tell you quite a bit. Also, I encourage you to take a look at your own situation. Do you tip those who do great work? If not, why not? Remember: No tip is too small, anything is better than nothing! Every good thing you do for others will end up coming back to you in one way or another.

Posted in: Attitude | Tags: tip | Comments: Be the first person to comment!

AdWords Performance Forum 2013 Pictures & Recap

Posted by: PPC Ian Comments: 2 comments so far

May. 10

What a busy and exciting two weeks! After speaking at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit at Amelia Island, FL last week, I attended the Google AdWords Performance Forum in San Francisco this week. The world of digital marketing is truly 24/7. These have been two weeks of balancing a full workload with the extra responsibility and fun times of great events! Today, I wanted to share some exciting photos from the APF 2013, and my fun experience.

Steve Kroll (Rocket Clicks), Tom Wolf (Rocket Clicks), Ian Lopuch (Me)

It all started on Monday at the W Hotel San Francisco. As soon as I arrived, Googlers greeted me in the lobby and directed me to the third floor. On the third floor, Google had a special VIP check-in area, complete with Google Micro Kitchen. Google thought of every possible detail, they made all of their guests feel like royalty.

After checking in, I went up to my room and was truly impressed. The rooms were outstanding, I could not be happier with the experience. The workstation, view, and overall feel of the room made me feel right at home. This was perfect since I had to get a full week’s worth of work done while attending the conference. The workstation and pleasant experience made that super easy.

Monday night, Google had an amazing kick off party. They had delicious food, amazing displays (see the Jelly Fish and Google Earth pictures below), and awesome company. My words cannot fully do the event justice, you must see the pictures below. I bumped into several Googlers I know and a variety of friends from the industry. I was especially happy to bump into my friends Steve Kroll and Tom Wolf from Rocket Clicks, PPC, SEO, and UX agency. After the Google party, Steve and Tom were kind enough to treat me to a fantastic dinner at Ame Restaurant at the St. Regis Hotel. We chatted about online marketing, business, and life. If you are looking for an agency, I highly recommend checking out Rocket Clicks. They are truly amazing. They are not only one of the best when it comes to knowledge and results, but are truly honest, great people. It is my honor to call Steve, Tom, and Rocket Clicks my friends.

After dinner, I headed back to my room to catch some sleep. Day two (Tuesday) was awesome. It was a day full of learning. I especially enjoyed the session about Enhanced Campaigns. I’m truly pumped up about Enhanced Campaigns and learned a lot of great ideas, directly from other leading advertisers and Googlers. After this conference, I feel incredibly prepared to take full advantage of the new Enhanced Campaign paradigm. Another highlight of day two: The opportunity to have lunch with Google product managers, providing feedback about the platform. I’m always thrilled to share ideas/feedback with Google and truly enjoyed the collaborative working session lunch. After a long day of sessions, day two ended with yet another party. It is very clear that Google invested a ton of time and money in preparing this conference. It showed through in every single detail. I had a lot of fun on day two, and bumped into my friend Sean Marshall from PPC Associates. Sean is an amazing guy and works at an amazing company, we had a ton of fun catching up.

Day three (Wednesday) was a half day of more great sessions. Google packed in so much valuable content, networking, fine dining, and partying. They truly care about their advertisers and are vested in their success. Thank you, Google, for an amazing AdWords Performance Forum. It was my honor to attend!

Pictures From The AdWords Performance Forum

AdWords Performance Forum Party Google Jelly Fish

AdWords Performance Forum Party Google Earth

AdWords Performance Forum Google Micro Kitchen

W Hotel San Francisco Room, Great Workstation

View From My Room, W Hotel San Francisco

Posted in: Conferences | Tags: adwords performance forum, apf | Comments: 2 comments so far, join the discussion!

I Spoke At MediaPost Search Insider Summit

Posted by: PPC Ian Comments: Be the first person to comment

May. 05

Last week, I had the honor of attending and speaking at MediaPost Search Insider Summit. What is Search Insider Summit? It’s a special digital marketing conference for top tier executives in our space. It’s typically an invite-only conference, and I was lucky and fortunate enough to be invited to attend and speak at this amazing conference on Amelia Island, Florida. I wanted to start off this post by sincerely thanking Rob McEvily, Junmian Sun, Jon Whitfield, and the entire MediaPost team. You guys put on the best digital marketing event ever.

Have you heard of ion interactive? These guys build the best and most impressive post-click marketing platform in the world. ion makes it easy for digital marketing professionals to test big ideas via landing page experiences, increasing their conversion rate. They not only offer an amazing platform, but they also offer amazing agency design services as well. As an ion power user of several years (I highly recommend checking them out), I was lucky enough to be invited to Search Insider Summit as ion interactive’s VIP guest. ion was gracious to sponsor me and pay for everything! And, they connected me with one of my most exciting public speaking opportunities ever (more on this later).

Ian Lopuch and David Rodnitzky (PPC Associates)

It all started last Sunday. I took an early 6:00am flight from here (San Francisco) to Houston, Texas. Then, I took another flight from Houston to Jacksonville, FL. Just 45 minutes away from Jacksonville is the beautiful oasis called Amelia Island. The day of travel was super long, but incredibly worth it! We stayed at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort. This place was absolutely beautiful and spectacular (check out photos below and throughout this post). My room directly overlooked the pool and amazing Atlantic Ocean. I arrived late in the day so I decided to grab a burger and catch some sleep. While the day was crazy with travel, I felt some true hospitality from everyone around. Those living in Jacksonville and surrounding areas are a great group, truly kind people.

The next Morning (Monday), the conference started! Monday was a really super day. I got to sit back and listen to some truly inspiring keynotes, presentations, and panels. We’re talking about the best and brightest in our industry. I took diligent notes on ideas I want to test first hand. I had lunch with Scott Brinker, Co-Founder at CTO at ion interactive. What an awesome lunch!

Later that day, I had the pleasure of partaking in a Segway tour of the island. We covered some great mileage (the place is huge) and networked as a team. It’s during the Segway tour I met Prashant Puri (CEO & Co-Founder) and Johnny Shami (Head of Business Development) from AdLift, the Bay Area’s SEO Agency. I was really impressed with AdLift, and it’s especially funny that I traveled across the country to meet two amazing marketers who live right here next to me! Speaking of Bay Area / Silicon Valley agencies, I got to spend some great time at the conference with my good friend David Rodnitzky, CEO of PPC Associates. David is such a great guy and guru within our space, I had a blast connecting with him several times throughout the conference. What a great opportunity to spend time with friends, both new and old.

Avish Dahiya (Baby Cache), Johnny Shami (AdLift), and Ian Lopuch

After the Segway tour, I enjoyed the cocktail hour and then the Yahoo! dinner. Dinner was a true blast. I got to sit with Leo Polanowski, VP of North America Account Management at Yahoo! Leo is my personal friend and a true leader in our industry. He has built one of the best account management organization around (special shout out to Justin Hill, the man). I enjoyed sitting at Leo’s table and chatting with my friend David Rodnitzky. I also enjoyed meeting George Michie, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at RKG. Earlier in the day, George was on the Segway tour with me. Fun times, thanks Leo and Yahoo! for the amazing dinner! The best part of the dinner: Leo introduced Yahoo! Stream Ads. I’m a huge fan of Yahoo!’s new ad formats. There’s huge upside here, talk to your account management team today.

After a huge and eventful day one, I was so amazingly pumped up. I got back to my room to find some amazing gift bags from Google and also adMarketplace. Search Insider Summit sponsors sure know how to make the digital marketer feel at home! I caught some sleep and then day two went very much like day one. However, instead of the Segway tour, I opted for spa services. What a great way to relax. Day two’s cocktail and dinner was sponsored by yieldbot. I got to catch up with my good friend David Rodnitzky (PPC Associates), the folks from adMarketplace, Dave Zinman (CEO at Infolinks), Laura Fell (Caterpillar), and others. Day two I went to bed a bit early because day three was my big day.

The next morning (Wednesday), I woke up super early to practice my presentation. A bit later that morning I had the privilege of presenting at Search Insider Summit on the topic of Big Testing and Better User Experiences Through Post-Click Marketing. I specifically focused on my partnership with ion interactive. The half hour presentation went fast and was densely packed with enthusiasm and tips. I heard from several folks in the audience that they enjoyed it quite a bit! Thank you to all who provided the positive feedback, it truly means a lot. My presentation marked good times and a true opportunity from a career and public speaking standpoint. Below, I have a bunch of photos from the conference with the first one from my presentation on day three (thanks David Rodnitzkey for taking the photo). Thanks, ion and MediaPost for the opportunity to present, it was an honor and I can’t wait for next time!

After my big presentation, I enjoyed some more great presentations and panels (diligently taking notes). Then, I’m sad to say, the three days of fun and excitement were over. Those thee days at Search Insider Summit went by way too fast. I learned so much, networked like never before, and had a super great time. On the way out, I shared the shuttle to the airport with my friends Bill (Scottrade) and Avish Dahiya, CTO at Baby Cache. Avish and my planes left around the same time, and Avish was kind enough to treat me to lunch at the airport. I was truly impressed with Avish’s role, Baby Cache, and their impressive business model. There is no conference I have ever attended in our industry that has this level of executive talent. What a wonderful experience. Thank you ion interactive (especially Scott Brinker, Jessica Collier, Mary D’Alatri-Ward, Stephanie Tunis) and MediaPost (especially Rob McEvily, Junmian Sun, and Jon Whitfield) for the best week ever! More pictures from the conference below…