My 2013 Goals

Happy new year! 2013 is officially here and it’s time for my 2013 goals post. It’s a long standing tradition here on PPC Ian to blog about my goals for the new year. (You may want to check out my: 2012 goals, 2011 goals, and 2010 goals.) These posts really help me document my aspirations for the new year so I’m able to stay on track and strive for excellence. I try to keep my goals attainable, but still a stretch. Typically, I do not hit all of them (within one year), but I have a great track record of hitting most of them (and a super high percentage of them if you project out more than one year). I feel that if I’m hitting all my goals within the year, I’m not pushing myself hard enough. I hope you enjoy reading this post as a way to spark your own goals. I truly feel that documenting goals on paper (or via blogging) is a critical step in achieving your dreams. Here’s to an amazing 2013!

2013 Goals

Save money and invest wisely.. This was also my number one goal for 2012. While I accomplished this goal in 2012, it’s not the type of goal that is over after one year. Saving money and investing wisely is a lifestyle. It requires many years of persistence to truly get the momentum building in your favor. As such, I’m going to be watching every expense very closely and hunting down passive income vehicles (such as dividend-paying stocks) every single day. Specifically, I’m looking to grow the amount of money I have invested in dividend paying stocks by at least 20%.
Help others and build careers. In 2012, I got promoted to VP. This was one of my longest standing goals. I view my role as the greatest honor and responsibility. At my company and also within the industry, I will strive every single day in 2013 to help others. Whether it’s via this blog, public speaking, 1-on-1s with team members, dinner with partners, or just about any other avenue, I’m going to do everything I can to motivate and empower. In terms of making it specific, I will help at least 5 people every single day, in a big way.
Invent a major new marketing strategy. I love online marketing and the marketing field overall because it’s all about innovation. I enjoy pushing myself to the limits. This year, I want to invent at least one major new marketing strategy (new to me/my company).
Continue to grow my offline marketing expertise. I’m all about pay per click and online marketing. When it comes to online marketing, I have 8+ years of experience. In more recent years, I started getting into offline marketing in a major way. I have built some great expertise across several offline marketing channels and am always learning more. In 2013, I want to deepen my offline marketing expertise and invest at least a few hours each week building my marketing toolkit.
Optimize, optimize, optimize. I just wouldn’t be PPC Ian if I wasn’t thinking about optimization. All day/night, I’m thinking about optimization from a PPC standpoint. However, this goal also ties into my life. I’m looking forward to optimizing my time (get more sleep, and more effective sleep), optimizing my workout schedule (getting out there and working out 4 days/week, one of the goals I did not hit in 2012), organizing our home and making better use of the space (a project Nicole and I are working on right now), optimizing my commute (trying different times to get to/from work as quickly as possible), really finding any and all ways to get even more out of life. I’m a big fan of optimization and 2013 is all about optimizing everything.
Match or potentially exceed our 2012 contribution to charity. Nicole and I donated a record amount of money to charity in 2012. We truly believe in helping others and get a thrill out of giving back. I’m not sure if we will exceed our 2012 contributions this year since we need to balance this goal with the saving/investing goal (which would allow us to donate maximum money long term). That said, we will strive to match our 2012 contribution.
Visit Hawaii. My wife, Nicole, and I love Hawaii. It’s one of our favorite places in the world. We try to go every year. (Here’s a fun post about our 2011 Maui Vacation). In 2012, we took a multitude of smaller trips, but no major vacation to Hawaii. Why? We got super focused on work (which is a good thing since we love our jobs). In 2013, we are already planning a vacation to Hawaii.
Invest in family and friends. It’s all about the big picture. I like to keep this goal on my list each year because it’s easy to get focused on work, blog, business, and investments. However, it truly is all about the people in your life. I’m going to make sure to take time for fun times with family and friends.

I could not be more excited about 2013. What are your goals for the new year!

Image of 2013 © iStockPhoto – A-S-L

SEM Interview Tips For 2013 and Beyond

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 28 5

I originally started this blog with the sole purpose of providing career advice for those in the SEM career path. Since then, I have branched out to cover a variety of topics including tactical SEM tips, conference recaps, affiliate marketing studies, and more. However, I wanted to get back to my roots today and offer some SEM interview tips that are sure to turbocharge your SEM career in 2013 and beyond. January is the start of the big hiring season. New budgets are in place and companies are hiring. I hope these tips help you score your dream search engine marketing job.

Interview In Progress

Know your SEM. Whether you are fresh out of college or you’re applying for a management position, make sure to know your SEM inside and out. You need to go above and beyond. Get your hands on tutorials, become well versed with platforms, and get certified. Arrive at your interview with specific examples and case studies that prove your knowledge of the space.
Stay humble. SEM is a team sport. If you come across as too cavalier, you will not be perceived as a team player. I’m not saying you need to change your attitude and personality. You need to be yourself because you want to get hired where you mesh well with the team. However, I do feel those that are super cavalier would be better suited to work on their teamwork or start their own (small) company. Corporate marketing (or running a larger business) is all about teamwork and staying humble.
Make sure you have mentor(s) in the search marketing industry. Make sure to drop a few names. Our industry is growing at a rapid pace. Your network is everything. If you know and study under the right people, that will score you instant credibility. I currently mentor several aspiring SEM superstars and personally owe my continued success to my network of mentors. Mentors are for marketing professionals of all levels.
Practice math exercises. Make sure you can complete mental math (simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) rapidly. Also, make sure you can answer more difficult questions on paper. Those that cannot perform mental math are going to face headwinds in the analytical field of SEM so make sure to be ready for math questions.
Go beyond SEM. Our industry is evolving. Search marketing professionals are now being asked to manage display, remarketing, social media, email, and affiliate marketing programs. The more you can bring to the table, the more likely you will get the job. Just remember: Depending on the job don’t be too well-rounded. Make sure to flex your deep expertise in the specific focus on the job. If you come across as too diversified, you may appear to lack depth in your knowledge.
Do a practice interview with your mentor. Take your interview seriously. Make sure the questions asked during the practice interview are of great difficulty, especially the math and case questions. Be prepared for anything. Also, practice your speaking so you come across with maximum confidence.
Offer your prospective employer flexibility. In any new position, you will need to earn respect. One way to do this is to work nights and weekends. SEM is a 24/7 trading landscape. If you’re able to take some pressure off the existing team and fill in during odd hours, this will go a long way. If you’re not willing to do this, SEM may not be the right career path for you since it’s truly a 24/7 discipline.
Know the SEM platforms. These days, it’s not enough to understand search engines, APIs, and desktop editors. Now, it’s all about getting leverage and sophistication via SEM platforms such as Inside Vault and Kenshoo. Learn about the platforms as much as possible and bring deep experience to the table.
Bring strong P&L experience to the table. SEM is a fun career path because you get to manage a P&L, especially as you get more senior. When you manage P&L there is zero margin for error. Bring a strong track record to the table. Explain specific instances of your contribution to the top and bottom lines.
Highlight your Ivy League resume. I’m not only talking about your college here. I’m talking about companies on your resume that had significant liquidity events. If you have a strong track record of working at companies that have achieved rapid success, you are typically going to be a more qualified candidate.
Send out thank you notes. This goes without saying. Always send out written (and email) thank you notes following your interview. Even if you don’t score the job, that’s ok. It’s all about building your network and people remember this type of gesture.
Arrive early. Again, one that goes without saying. SEM is all about punctuality. It can be difficult at times to keep pushing 24/7. Arrive to your interview early to show your prospective employer that you have what it takes.
Bring technical expertise. Are you a CS graduate? How about EE? SEM is a technical field. To the extent that you can help build tools and automation, this will go a long way. Demonstrate your knowledge of search engine APIs and your ability to build programs around those APIs. At a minimum, try to master Excel macros.
Perform an SEM audit. Of course this is difficult without direct account access, but nonetheless you can spend a few hours and bring some insights to your interview. Perform an SEM audit of your prospective employer and bring great ideas (with plans to back them up).
Know the company. It’s not enough to know SEM. You need to also understand the company and industry you are targeting. Spend the time to truly research the company at which you are interviewing. Tie this research into your SEM audit (prior point). Industry-specific ideas are often the best ones.
Be ready to build campaigns. There is no better way to test knowledge than to have a candidate build bulksheets. Get ready for tactical questions and exercises.

I hope these tips help out and best of luck in securing the SEM job of your dreams in 2013!

Image of Interview In Progress © iStockPhoto – FugeSpot

Cool Search Marketing Holiday Gifts

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 23 0

I’m a huge fan of corporate holiday cards and gifts. Giving gifts is such a wonderful way to say “thank you” to your valued colleagues, vendors, and partners. Gifts don’t have to be super expensive, it’s the thought that matters. Being an online advertising professional, I’m truly blessed and lucky to work with amazing partners such as Google, Yahoo!, and Marin Software. This year, my partners went all out and sent over some truly impressive (and amazingly appreciated) gifts. Today, I wanted to highlight a few of the gifts I received this year. Thanks everyone for the awesome gifts!

Marin Software Holiday Gift

First up is the tower of chocolates and goodies from Marin Software. This tower is truly impressive, check out the picture to the right. Each box contains a different treat. I’m talking about chocolates, truffles, gourmet cookies, and so much more. Marin’s gift is the first one I received this year and it went fast. Everyone at the office truly enjoyed it! Thanks, Marin!

Second up is the most amazing gift basket ever from my SEM agency. This is the first picture below. I put an Expo marker next to the gift basket for size comparison. This basket has more food than one could possibly eat! It’s a heavy gift basket and has just about everything from caviar to chocolates to smoked salmon. I know we will be enjoying this gift basket for months to come, our SEM team is stocked with snacks and goodies.

Next, I wanted to highlight the third gift on the list, the amazing Harry and David gift box received from our friends at Yahoo! This is perhaps the classiest gift basket I have ever seen. It contains pears, apples, chocolates, and more. The presentation is simply amazing. I really like this gift box because it’s the perfect balance of healthy foods and desserts too.

Good things often come in small packages! I wanted to sincerely thank Google for the fifth gift on my list today, an amazing Ghirardelli coffee mug filled with all flavors of Ghirardelli chocolate squares. This gift is truly fun because Google sent it to all members of our team. It’s always fun when you get a personal gift, thanks Google.

I wanted to round up today’s post with my fifth gift, an amazing gift basket (literally in a basket) from one of our favorite second tier search engines. This basket, like Yahoo!’s, is from Harry and David. The pears, apples, nuts, and goodies are delicious.

The 2012 holiday season is definitely the season of good food. Our gifts this year were all centered around the gift basket and food theme. Thank you so much, everyone, for the gifts. I’m so honored and lucky to work with such amazing partners in such an amazing industry. I wanted to also take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for reading PPC Ian and to leave you with a parting thought… While all of these gifts truly made my month, I also had the great opportunity to purchase a few gifts this holiday season for those less fortunate (via my company’s holiday gift drive). This is truly the season of giving and I encourage you to find ways to give back. That is the most rewarding gift of all!

Images of My SEM Holiday Gifts From Amazing Partners

Search Marketing Agency Gift Basket

Yahoo! Gift Basket

Google Holiday Gift

Search Marketing Holiday Gift Basket

Images in this post © PPCIan.com

My Holiday Wish List

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 19 0

Hey Everyone,
Today I’m excited to share a guest post that my friends at PPC Associates were kind enough to publish earlier this week. Please head on over to the PPC Associates blog and read my Online Marketing Holiday Wish List. This is my wish list for the holiday season, from a search engine marketing perspective. You’ll find all kinds of fun things on my wish list such as PPC agency help, online marketing platforms, beta test budget, and more. What’s on your holiday wish list this year? Big revenue numbers? Less competition in the AdWords landscape? Whatever your wish may be, I hope you get it! Happy holidays and new year! PPC Associates, thanks so much for the opportunity to guest post.
All the best,
PPC Ian

Image in this post © PPCAssociates.com

SEM Agencies: Creative Ways To Get Amazing Results

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 16 1

Whether you outsource all of your SEM efforts or have an in-house team, it’s likely you will work with an SEM agency. I personally view SEM agencies as an extension of my internal team. The agency is just like any other employee at your company except they have their own office. World class SEM agencies can add so much value that they quickly pay for themselves. Today I wanted to share a few tips and creative ways to get amazing results from your agency! I’m going to skip the obvious tips such as having regular meetings, fostering a 2-way communication channel, and requesting regular reports. Rather, I’m going to focus on the more creative opportunities that truly flex the power of the agency model.

SEM Agency

Leverage your agency for true 24/7 operations. SEM is like the stock market, except it’s open 24/7. As humans, we all need sleep and we all need to diversify our time. What’s the best way to get campaign coverage on nights, weekends, and even holidays? Hire and SEM agency and make this a focus for them. Agencies are experts at resource allocation and at leveraging their global/cross-time zone capabilities.
Rely on your agency to get into exclusive beta tests on Google AdWords and Bing Ads. Large agencies have amazing relationships with search engines. They bring a ton of business forth, so the search engines are very serious about agency account management. If you are a smaller/mid-sized advertiser, you may find an agency as your key to securing exclusive beta tests.
Make sure to divide and conquer. This tip is for those large organizations that have both an in-house team and an agency team. In the world of SEM, it’s super easy to cross wires. Make sure there are clear lines of differentiation. Perhaps the agency owns one search engine and the in-house team owns another. Perhaps the agency owns on facet of campaign management (such as ad copy testing) and the in-house team owns another (such as keyword expansion). Perhaps the agency owns particular campaigns and the in-house team owns another. However you decide to slice it, make sure there is clear coordination. Otherwise, wires could get crossed.
Leverage your agency to build advanced technologies. In the world of SEM, it’s all about scale. Scale often requires scripts and programs to be built. It’s not always easy to gather resources in-house, however a super agency will offer to build programs for you. Have this discussion and see if your agency can bring your team technology capacity.
See if your SEM agency can also act as your creative agency. This point ties into the last one. Not always is it easy to get quick turnaround on in-house creative projects (such as landing page comps and display creative). However, many SEM agencies have their own creative resources (either in-house or very close by). See if your SEM agency can produce your creative assets.
Partner on social media with your SEM agency. Most SEM teams these days are offered the fun opportunity to run paid campaigns on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. However, running such campaigns is different from Google AdWords and Bing Ads. It requires a different approach and the strategy is evolving rapidly. Make social media a collaborative project with your SEM agency and you are likely to achieve excellent results.
Leverage your SEM agency for advanced bidding and campaign management technology. Large agencies often have a performance marketing platform in place, such as Acquisio. When you hire an agency, you not only get marketing expertise but you also often acquire the technology to truly achieve success. See if your in-house team can gain access to the technology platform and collaborate closely around the platform.
Save money on competitive intelligence with your SEM agency. Large agencies often have access to tools like Hitwise and Compete. They need to have the necessary data points to drive business forward for their clients. See if your agency has access to such tools/reports and leverage those tools for your internal competitive benchmarking.
Leverage your agency for a big picture perspective. Agencies see a lot of stuff. They manage a multitude of clients, search engines, and channels. Leverage your agency to truly understand your industry (and related industries) from an online marketing perspective.
See if your agency can help out with SEO. At many companies, the online marketing team is responsible for both SEM and SEO. These two channels can be quite different, but they truly go hand-in-hand. See if your SEM agency has SEO experience. If yes, the relationship will truly pay extra dividends.
See if your agency can open door in terms of relationships. Agencies mean big business and have extensive relationships across the industry. Leverage your agency to make connections. One quick tip: See if your agency would be open to holding a client summit where their clients get together and share best practices. Another tip: See if your agency can help build deep connections within search engines such as Google.

As you can see, SEM agencies provide a multitude of benefits above and beyond standard campaign management. I hope these tips help you get the most from your agency. If you don’t have an agency, I hope these tips provide some extra points to help you secure the necessary budget to make the hire.

Image of Agency © iStockPhoto – oonal

Online Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 9 0

Here on PPC Ian I’m often blogging about enterprise-level online marketing tips, strategies, and advice. Today, I wanted to focus on small businesses. Small businesses face a unique set of challenges and opportunities in the online marketing landscape. Whether you are CEO of a startup or responsible for growing a new product within an existing company, I hope these tips help accelerate your growth!

Tip 1: Leverage Paid Search To Build Insights

Support Small Business

When your business is brand new, it takes time to build brand awareness, organic search traffic, a strong following on social media, and a customer database. At the same time, you need traffic right away to start testing your website and building your business. It’s all about testing and iterating. So, what can you do? I always recommend starting with paid search campaigns. You will not have a ton of marketing budget as a small business, but I still recommend investing a small amount on paid search. This will jump start your sales and drive valuable insights about your website.

Tip 2: Stretch Your Search Marketing Budget Wisely

This tip is an extension of the last one. While I recommend launching paid search campaigns, any new business will have a strict marketing budget. How do you stretch your budget and get the most efficient results? Here are a few of my favorite tips.

Start with exact match. Exact match is the most profitable match type.
Opt into Google.com and Yahoo.com/Bing.com. Stay away from search partners/syndication, content match/display, and mobile search. When you’re just starting out, it’s all about focus. There will be plenty of time to scale later as your business grows. I have found that exact match campaigns on Google.com and also Yahoo.com/Bing.com are the best, most profitable place to start out.
Implement budgets so you don’t spend too much.
Implement day parting so your campaigns are live during the right times (will differ depending on your business model).
Start out with aggressive bids. The foundation of any new AdWords or Bing Ads account is a high click-through-rate. While search engines are supposed to normalize by position, I always find it advantageous to start out in the top few positions to establish the best possible history.
Consider hiring an SEM agency such as Rocket Clicks. Online advertising is complex. Get advice and help from the best.

Tip 3: Develop A Rock Solid Tracking Strategy

The beauty of online marketing is it offers the ability for precise tracking. The beauty of a small business is you’re starting fresh and can set up the perfect tracking strategy. If you’re selling goods online, you should not only track orders, but also order value and repeat purchases (to understand revenue per customer). If you’re selling a financial product that involves in-person interaction with your customer, make sure to track lead forms via your website and also back end conversions and lifetime revenue. Let’s say you’re trying to get customers to your store. This one is a bit more difficult to track, but try to offer a unique coupon code online (or series of codes) to track offline sales back to online advertising. The possibilities are endless.

Before you start any marketing efforts, it’s all about developing a rock solid tracking strategy. Your strategy should go as deep in your conversion funnel as possible. It should span both online and offline conversions. It should take phone conversions and also mobile conversions into account. Your business is new so it’s the ideal time to develop the perfect tracking strategy.

Tip 4: View Sweat Equity As Your Competitive Advantage

While large businesses have tons of money and can go aggressive, small businesses have the competitive advantage of being nimble and having tons of sweat equity. When you’re a small business, you can move fast and make big time investments (since one person can oftentimes own most or even all of the online advertising strategy). I recommend publishing amazing content daily (or even several times a day), going all out on social networks (especially Google+), developing and publishing amazing video content, and more. Turn your online marketing business into a content powerhouse. This will take a ton of time and will not produce results overnight, but will truly pay dividends in the long run. And, you may be able to outmaneuver some of your big competitors because you’re nimble and fast.

Tip 5: Have Clear Goals In Place

This tip ties into the measurement and tracking one above. When you’re starting a new business, it’s easy to be all over the place. There are a million things to do. There are so many campaigns and metrics to manage. At the end of the day, however, each business must have a clear purpose and mission. Choose metrics and goals for your online campaigns that support these goals. Watch them like a hawk. Make sure to include clear financial results in your goal set.

I hope these tips help out. Best of luck in growing your small business!

I’m Seeing New Gmail Message Ads

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 4 3

Google is always innovating. I’ve been super excited lately about the entire Google advertising ecosystem: Google AdWords, Google Display Network (GDN), YouTube, Gmail, and Google+. All of Google’s products are intertwined. Because of the reach of the Google ecosystem, there is truly power in a holistic online marketing approach. I recommend maximizing your business presence on each and every one of Google’s products. Today, I’m excited to highlight some awesome new Gmail message ads.

Check out the image ad to the right. I have been seeing this State Farm ad each time I log into Gmail. It shows up above the standard Gmail text-based ads we are all so used to seeing. When you click the State Farm banner, it opens a Gmail “message” with State Farm’s offer (see screenshot below). It’s sort of like a mail message. Essentially, Google is allowing State Farm to sponsor a cool hybrid ad/message ad unit. I’m really impressed with these new ads because they extend far beyond the typical paid search ad. We’re talking about a lot of creative freedom here. You get to craft an entire email message. If you’re interested in testing these Gmail message ads, I recommend contacting your Google AdWords reps today. Now, if Google would open up advertising on Google+ – hopefully it’s only a matter of time!

PPC Associates Impression Sculpting eBook

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 2 3

Have you heard of PPC Associates? They are one of the absolute best SEM agencies around. I’m personal friends with many employees over at PPC Associates (they are all awesome) including their CEO, David Rodnitzky. Search engine marketing is a very difficult and complex field. Its agencies like PPC Associates, those that truly “get it”, that raise the bar. Today I’m thrilled to review and share with you the latest free eBook from PPC Associates, Impression Sculpting: Master GDN Advertising. This is a true must-read eBook, make sure to download it today!

Do you advertise on the Google Display Network? When launching new GDN campaigns, most start with a keyword-driven architecture. These contextual campaigns allow you to show up within relevant articles about your product/category. If you’re selling car insurance, you get to show up within articles about car insurance. However, there are only so many articles about car insurance on the Internet. What if you want to go bigger with your display advertising efforts but are out of ideas? That’s the purpose of today’s eBook.

Will Lin, Co-Founder of PPC Associates, introduces a new concept called “Impression Sculpting”. This technique allows advertisers to go big, while still driving cost-effective conversions. It allows you to drive effective display programs, even on websites/articles that are not directly about your product/category. Impression sculpting hinges on the new Google AdWords demographic targeting launched to all accounts in July, 2012. I know I have found success with this strategy and highly recommend downloading this free eBook.

Online Marketing Tips To Close Out 2012

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 27 3

Today marks my 300th post here on PPC Ian. Thank you so much for reading, I truly appreciate it! We’re heading into year end, can you believe it? As we close out 2012 and head into 2013, there are some important tasks you will want to complete as a professional online marketer. Today’s post is geared towards those who work in the corporate world of SEM. I hope you find this year end checklist helpful.

Getting Ready For 2013

Make sure to request your budget for 2013. Perform several models – top down, bottom up – to truly understand the right amount. Get as granular as possible. Understand how your budget request fits into your overall company’s goals.
Plan out your team’s initiatives for 2013. Understand how they fit into your company’s strategic goals. Make the process interactive. Work closely with everyone on your team and solicit ideas. Maybe even create a mini offsite for 2013 planning.
Think through new media channels (such as display advertising, email marketing, and remarketing) in addition to new product lines. Do you want to expand your online advertising campaigns to more lines of business? Factor such decisions into your budget and plan.
Audit your resources for 2013. Do you have enough people on your team? Do you want to hire someone new? If you will be making new hires, make sure it’s accounted for in your company’s budget. Think through internal employees and also consultants/agencies.
At the end of 2012, not only is it the end of Q4 but it’s the end of an entire year. Make sure to get your finance department an accurate picture of your Q4 expenses. They will be working hard to close out an entire fiscal year. PPC is typically a big cost marketing channel so the more details you can provide the better.
Take a serious look at your technology needs. Are you currently leveraging an SEM platform? Do you want to stick with it or change to a new one? SEM platforms cost money and the competitive evaluation can take some time. Make sure to start the process early and budget sufficient funds. And, get out there and audition awesome technologies such as InsideVault and Acquisio.
Take some time to reflect and perform a 2012 recap. Create a PowerPoint and send it out to the executive team. It’s truly important to send out regular updates and discuss progress. It’s amazing how much we all accomplish and I cannot underscore this step enough.
Don’t forget to send out holiday cards (and gifts too). Pay per click is truly a team effort. I don’t know what I’d do without help from search engines and partners. Make sure to thank them for everything. Cards and gifts can take some time, but it’s truly worth it.

Thanks everyone for reading, and I hope these tips help you close out an amazing 2012 and prepare for an even better 2013!

Happy Thanksgiving From PPC Ian

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 22 3

Can you believe it? It’s already Thanksgiving. This has been such an amazing year and I am truly thankful for so much. Today, I wanted to take a quick moment to say thanks. The list below just covers a few highlights. I am thankful for so much more, so if I missed you on this list please know that I am still truly thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am so incredibly thankful for my amazing wife, Nicole! I am truly the luckiest man around. The past 3+ years of marriage have been the best years of my life.
I am so thankful for my wonderful parents and family. I cannot imagine being in the fortunate position I am today without the coaching and upbringing from my amazing parents!
I’m truly thankful to work at a company that I love. I just hit my 3-year milestone in October and got promoted to VP this year, my lifelong goal. I have the best team ever and it’s an honor to come into work each and every day. I work at a company that is truly making a difference in people’s lives.
I’m thankful I got into this industry. I majored in Computer Science and minored in Economics. I had no idea what PPC was when I started. I’m so thankful I randomly found this career path, right when the industry was starting out. What a fun adventure it has been!
I’m very thankful for my friends within the online marketing industry. I write a lot here about networking. I view everyone in my network as a personal friend and have learned so much from everyone. I’m especially thankful for my mentors, I’m now doing everything I can to give back and mentor others. Special thanks goes out to The Free COO.
I’m thankful for my health and great quality of life. The online marketing industry has allowed my wife and I to accomplish so much, and to enjoy a super quality of life. We are very fortunate.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to give back. Whether it’s mentoring others in this industry or donating money to charities, I have made a conscious effort to raise the bar this year. I find that the more I give back, the more I get.
I’m thankful for Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and all other search engines. You guys built am amazing industry. There would be no search engine marketing without the search engines. I’m especially thankful for the amazing customer service teams / account reps at the search engines. You guys are the ones making it happen!
I’m thankful for my blog, PPC Ian, and for all of my readers (you)! This blog has provided an amazing vehicle for sharpening my skills, sharing my opinions, and enjoying my passion for writing. I get so much out of the blogging process and can’t thank you enough for reading.
I’m truly thankful for my sponsors such as AdMedia Online Ad Network and Rocket Clicks SEM Agency. Running PPC Ian costs money. My sponsors help compensate for the bills and are the ones that truly keep the lights on. Thank you to all my amazing sponsors.
I’m amazingly thankful for online marketing automation. I’m talking about platforms like Kenshoo. Without automation, our days as pay per click marketers would be filled with an endless amount of manual work.
I’m thankful for rap / hip hop music. I’m a true connoisseur of rap music, it keeps me going. I’m also very thankful for jazz music. I’m most thankful for those for the visionaries that combine rap with jazz.
I’m thankful for my sources of inspiration. Here’s where I’m Finding My Inspiration Online. Thanks for keeping my going!
I’m thankful for investing and the stock market. I have so much fun following the market, analyzing opportunities, and formulating strategy.
I’m thankful for the opportunities that have been provided to me. I do not take my responsibilities lightly. It is an honor to live this life and I am always looking for ways to give back!

Thanks so much for reading and I’m wishing you and your family a truly amazing Thanksgiving and holiday season! I hope your weekend is fun and relaxing and that you enjoy tons of time with your friends and family.