PPC Proposal for: Your Company.com

Driving More Qualified Traffic to Your Company.com Using a Google Adwords Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing Campaign

A PPC Marketing Proposal

Table of Contents

PPC Proposal for: Your Company.com

Introduction/Background

(1) Phase One: Conduct Comprehensive Keyword (and Other) Research

(2) Phase Two: Set Up Initial Adwords Campaign

(3) Phase Three: Daily Monitoring and Modifying Campaigns

(4) Initial and Ongoing Consultation

(5) Managing Your Company’s Expectations

(6) Costs and Fees

(7) Glossary of Terms

Introduction/Background

In its simplest form, an online pay-per-click (PPC) campaign is a tool that businesses, individuals, and organizations use to communicate with their target audience(s) and drive qualified search engine traffic to their websites.

Of the three major search engines – Google, Yahoo!, and MSN/Bing – Google is, by far, the most widely used search engine (Yahoo! is second and MSN is third). Likewise, Google’s advertising programs – Adwords (PPC) and AdSense (content placement) – are the popular online advertising programs of their type on the Internet, so it makes sense to begin there and expand to other search engines over time if appropriate.

Following are some very top-level Google Adwords basics:

• PPC advertisers must open up a Google Adwords account (adwords.google.com/). There is a $5.00 charge for opening an account and advertisers must submit credit card information that will be used to pay for any/all additional costs incurred.

• Once registered, advertisers can set up one or many Adwords campaigns – each with one or more ad groups and ads.

• Advertisers specify their geographic parameters (i.e. where their ads will show), maximum daily budgets, maximum cost-per-click (See Glossary of Terms, Section 7) prices, language preferences, destination and display urls, and more.

• Once live, advertisers’ ads appear in search results lists (on the very top left hand side of the results page, under “sponsored searches” or along the right hand side of the same page), along with live links to their web pages. Ads are triggered when search engine users who fit a campaign’s set parameters enter targeted keywords or phrases.

• Whenever advertisers’ links are “clicked on” users are sent to the designated web page and the advertiser pays an agreed-upon fee – thus, the term “pay-per-click.” Content placement ads appear on web pages, not search engine results listings. Depending on their type (i.e. whether they’re generated from Adwords or AdSense) advertisers either pay a flat-fee for “impressions” or per click.

In order to obtain excellent results advertisers must carefully orchestrate and execute a number of complicated variables nearly flawlessly.  If not, their campaigns perform poorly and they lose money.

All effective PPC campaigns consist of the following six top-level elements:

• Highly targeted, relevant keywords
• Small, tightly focused ad groups
• Ad headlines, copy & destination urls that mirror &/or support ad group names and keywords
• Website landing pages with keyword-rich content, page titles & headlines
• Reliable tracking tools and processes that allow results to be measured, quantified & analyzed
• “Blended” Strategies: PPC results are greatly enhanced when combined with other solid search engine marketing, or SEM, (See Glossary of Terms, Section 7) and SEO strategies

All of these factors work together to increase – or decrease – the odds that a company’s PPC campaign will generate a positive return on their investment (ROI). However, as is the case with all forms of advertising, there are other external and internal factors that may have a negative effect on PPC campaign results or ROI. Here are several:

• Exorbitant cost-per-click prices due to increases in competition
• Lower-than-average standard industry conversion (defined as opt-ins, direct online sales, or leads) rates
• High cost-per-click rates and/or lower conversion rates vs. low average product/service pricing or profits (i.e. products/services with prices/profits that are too low to offset the costs per click and/or low-than-average conversion rates)
• Company’s product and/or service offerings are not what visitors expected, or wanted
• Advertisers’ websites and/or follow-up sales processes are not “conversion-ready”

In other words, there are many variables to consider before choosing to conduct a PPC campaign, and many options to weigh after making that decision. In spite of the low-cost to entry ($5.00) and the relative ease of creating an ad campaign, it is a highly technical and complex form of advertising and one that requires a great deal of objective research, considerable skill and know-how, constant testing and monitoring, and a keen ability to analyze results and make changes accordingly.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Adwords advertisers unnecessarily achieve less-than-anticipated results and a negative return on their investments. The primary reason for these disappointing results is simple: Advertisers lack the experience, expertise, and skills they need to create and sustain a profitable Adwords campaign. For instance, they lack insider knowledge on Google’s requirements and algorithms; they fail to coordinate their SEO efforts with their PPC efforts; they lack knowledge on finding “money” keywords; they bid too high, or too low, for their keywords; they are not schooled in writing effective ads; and much, much more. So, what happens?  They give up and think, “I tried Adwords and it doesn’t work.”

In truth, this couldn’t be further from the truth! When Adwords campaigns are set up properly and maintained by seasoned professionals they are among the most affordable and profitable advertising vehicles on the planet! Even better, “well-oiled” PPC campaigns are “gifts that keep on giving” – that is, with just a little bit of ongoing tweaking, they can be regular sources of profitable traffic for years and years. However, as with all worthwhile endeavors, a considerable amount of groundwork must be accomplished first.

Our goal is to develop and maintain a streamlined, profitable, and sustainable Google Adwords PPC Campaign(s) for Your Company. More specifically, we will develop one that:

• Consistently delivers a positive return on the Your Company investment
• Incrementally increases qualified traffic to Your Company website
• Uses Your Company resources to achieve the best possible outcome – i.e. get the most for the least
• Improves Your Company chances for converting strangers into website visitors, and website visitors into qualified leads and or sales

Very simply, in order to set up your PPC campaign we will:

• Conduct comprehensive keyword (and other) research
• Finalize initial ad groups & keywords (using broad, phrased and exact matching as appropriate)
• Add negative keywords to filter out unwanted traffic
• Set campaign parameters
• Develop ad copy and headlines
• Activate campaign and enter testing phase
• Track (begins day 1) and refine

Following, however, is a detailed proposal on the initiatives we will perform in order to set up and maintain your company’s Google Adwords’ PPC program. ** (Although we can also set up campaigns on other search engines, we strongly advise waiting until after Google results are streamlined.)

(1) Phase One: Conduct Comprehensive Keyword (and Other) Research

After we’ve reviewed Your Company current website and Analytics reports and have completed our initial interviews with company representatives, we will create a short list of broad “seed” keywords with which to begin our independent research. This list will be used to generate additional lists of more focused keywords and phrases, which we’ll use to formulate proposed ad groups.

Based on many variables – all requiring further research – we will come up with a final list of recommended keywords and ad groups (as well as “negative” keywords) for company representative to review and approve. Here are just some of the factors we will consider and the types of questions we’ll seek to answer before completing Phase One:

• Your Objectives: For example, what do you want to happen and how does PPC fit your overall goals?  What types of prospects are you targeting? What will you invite your website visitors to do once you arrive on your site?  How do you define conversions?  How will you track conversions?

• Advertising Budget: For example, is your available Adwords budget sufficient to get the most out of your Adwords campaign, or are there other alternatives that make more sense (e.g. AdSense)? Is your proposed budget “overkill” and is it prudent to add ad groups or expand your keyword lists?

• Landing Pages: For example, can we integrate your PPC ad groups with keyword specific landing pages to improve Google Adwords Quality Scores? If so, what are the current landing page titles? If not, does it make sense to create new landing pages?

• Estimated Costs-per-clicks: For example, are the average costs-per-click reasonable for your budget, anticipated conversion rates, and/or profit margins?

• Keyword Volume: For example, is there enough search volume to warrant a campaign?  Is the volume too high – and therefore, extremely risky – for certain keywords? What part will negative keywords play in your campaign?  Is it best to limit the geographical area for your campaign initially?

** Please Note: If, anytime during this or subsequent phases, we believe that a Google Adwords campaign is not in Your Company best interest, we will share our findings and analysis, and offer our recommendations for exploring alternative online or offline advertising solutions.

• Keyword/Ad Group Relevancy: For example, are the keywords and ad groups relevant to your products and services (hint: the more focused the better)?

• Competitive Analysis: For example, are your competitors advertising online?  If so, how much are they spending? What keywords are they bidding on? How much are they paying per click? How similar are their products/services to yours?

• Industry and Marketplace Trends: For example, are there seasonal or other types of trends in the marketplace that may affect your ability to drive targeted traffic to their website?  Are there new opportunities that they can take advantage of quickly to jumpstart their results?

• Abuse Prevalence: For example, does your industry have a higher-than-average incidence of PPC abuse?  If so, what measures need to be put in place to prevent, monitor, and react to it?

We will gather this intelligence using a variety of free and paid-for web-based tools, such as:

• Google’s External Keyword Tool (free)
• Google Insights for Search (free)
• Google Trends (free)
• Spy Fu (paid)
• Google Cash Detective (paid)
• Marketing Samurai (paid)
• Niche Profit Keyword Money Matrix (paid)
• Quantcast (free)
• Google Analytics (If NDS currently has a Google Analytics account, we will request access and review all the data available)
• Google Traffic Estimator (free)
• Quintura (free)
• Keyword Density Analyzer (free)
• Ranks NL Webmaster Tools (free)

Estimated time required to complete Phase One tasks: 2-5 days (16-40 hrs.)  The types of events that may result in delays: Lack of company data; delays in receiving company information and/or approvals; too many, or too few, seed keywords; lack of competitive data)

(2) Phase Two: Set Up Initial Adwords Campaign

Once NDS executives have reviewed and approved all of the keywords and ad groups we’ve presented, our next step will be to set up the PPC campaign within their Adwords account.  If Your Company already has an active Adwords account, we will need login information. If not, one will need to be created (we are happy to walk you through the process). FYI – it takes just a few minutes to open up an Adwords account. You’ll be asked to enter standard profile information and place a credit card on file.  The $5.00 registration fee will be deducted when you open the account, and all PPC costs (if any) will be billed to your credit card every thirty days (or the first of the month, whichever comes sooner.)

When we set up your campaign we’ll assign a maximum daily budget – approved by Your Company in advance. Please note, however, that this does not mean that your daily budget needs to be set as high as your finances allow. In many cases, far less is sufficient. Please also note that in any given day Google may exceed your daily limit by up to 20%, but over a 30-day period your daily budget must average out to your maximum.  (If Google exceeds your budget by 20% or more, you will be reimbursed the entire overage.)

At any time, you may go into your Adwords account and view your billing information, results, reports, and much more. Information contained there is not however, “real time.” There is generally a one to three hour delay (and sometimes more), but in our experience, daily results are usually accurate after midnight.

We will perform the following tasks:

1. Create one or more campaigns and specifying all campaign variables, including:

• Geographic Regions (we can target multiple countries or USA only; individual states, regions within states, metro areas, and/or one or more towns, zip codes, etc. In other words, we can target very large or very small audiences.

• Daily Budgets
• Maximum Cost Per Clicks by Campaign, Ad Group, or Keywords
• Ad Scheduling
• Ad Rotations (for split-testing)
• Language Preferences

and more

2. Set up all ad groups (within campaigns) with appropriate broad, phrased, and exact match keyword phrases

3. Write two ads (for split testing) per ad group complete with destination and display urls

4. Obtain Google Adwords tracking code and merge with Your Company existing Analytics account or create a new one. We will provide this code to Your Company website developer for inclusion on all of their web pages.

Estimated time required to complete Phase Two tasks: 1-2 days (8-16 hrs.)

(3) Phase Three: Daily Monitoring and Modifying Campaigns

After launch, we will diligently monitor and modify campaigns (every 3 hours daily for the first several weeks) to ensure that:

• Your Company ads appear on the first page of Google search results

• We achieve the best possible click-through rates without sacrificing traffic quality, quality scores, or conversion rates (See Glossary of Terms, Section 7). To this end, we will add, delete, and modify ads, ad groups, and keywords; adjust maximum cost-per-click bids; change geographic targeting; and the like. (Please note: We will get Your Company approval in advance for any/all suggested daily budget changes – up or down.)

We will also begin with two different ads per ad group. Once we obtain enough data – that is, a statically valid number of impressions (See Glossary of Terms, Section 7) per ad – we will keep the ads with the highest click-through rates (these will become our “controls”), discard the “losers” and test other ads against our controls.  We will continue this process indefinitely and/or until results indicate that significant improvements are unlikely.

Although we assume that Your Company’s ultimate goal is to generate profitable product sales, if your website does not currently allow for direct online sales we can help direct you in setting up a shopping cart and payment process. If Your Company does not have a product to sell then the  website will serve primarily as a lead generation tool; that is, we assume that visitors will be invited to call or email company representatives, who will then be tasked with closing sales. If so, we will work with and/or advise Your Company on the best methods for tracking and documenting leads generated.

• We obtain the highest possible quality scores (See Glossary of Terms, Section 7) – essential to improving Adwords performance. We will achieve this by ensuring that all ad groups and ad copy contain relevant and focused keywords and phrases. Additionally, we will advise Your Company on ways to improve your quality scores which is normally outside of the scope of PPC management (e.g. relevant landing pages, destination urls, etc.)

• Your Company will receive regular and ongoing communication regarding campaign results. We will also provide our objective assessment and analysis regarding the campaign’s progress over time (i.e. whether things are improving or getting worse); our prognosis for its future; and how long we predict it will take to obtain statistically valid data. We will send you Google Adwords generated reports (and show designated employees of Your Company how to access these as well) and share all pertinent Analytics information as well.

Estimated time required to complete Phase Three tasks: We will continue to monitor (and modify as needed) all elements within Your Company campaigns on a daily basis for the length of our contract. During the first 1-3 months we will review results every three hours throughout the day until 6 pm  (US Pacific standard time). After that, we will monitor the campaign twice daily unless results dictate more focused attention.

(4) Initial and Ongoing Consultation

We will consult with and advise Your Company contacts as appropriate and needed – via on any/all aspects of their PPC campaign. Since our ultimate goal is to help Your Company achieve their overall business goals, we will offer candid and objective suggestions for improving Your Company ROI (even if that means delaying, minimizing, or forgoing PPC advertising all-together).

Additionally, we set aside two hours per month (for six month) for live, one-on-one Adwords tutorials. We will conduct these sessions at a regular and agreed-upon day and time via teleconferences (e.g. skype) and using Teamviewer software (Teamviewer.com offers free computer-sharing, web-based software that can be downloaded in minutes) for 1-5 employees. Alternatively, NDS can choose to use this time for other types of consultation.

Estimated Time: 20-60 hours

(5) Managing Your Company Expectations

Although we use the most sophisticated and accurate tools available to conduct our pre-campaign research – and therefore substantially minimize our clients’ vulnerabilities and greatly increase their chances for success – your ultimate PPC results will always be far better than your initial results.  Here’s why:

• It Takes Time for Google to “Trust” New Advertisers: Keep in mind that Google – and all search engines – are in the “trust” business; that is, their profits depend on their users trusting that Google will deliver relevant search results.  In other words, ads that result in more clicks for certain keywords are judged as “more relevant” than ones with lower click-through percentages.

However, high click-through rates aren’t enough to win Google’s “heart.” Rather, advertisers must also sustain these high click through and as importantly, send visitors to web pages that provide the information their seeking (this is the reason why keyword-rich landing pages are so critical to overall PPC success). Advertisers who follow these, and other Google guidelines, are “rewarded” with lower per-click costs, better positioning, increased visibility, and the like. These rewards will have a direct positive impact on Your Company results. However, this process does not happen overnight – in spite of what you may have heard. Google monitors all new advertisers carefully and metes out these “rewards” slowly and methodically during the first couple of months.

Additionally, Google rewards advertisers whose ads run consistently over longer periods of time.  When we begin your campaign, Google has no way of knowing how long your campaign will remain active. And given the plethora of “fly-by-night” Internet marketers, this is a legitimate concern.  In other words, advertisers are also rewarded for consistent longevity – and the way Google measures this is with a “wait-and-see” attitude.

• It Takes Time to Test Variables: Excellent Google Adwords campaigns do not happen by accident. They occur as a result of careful planning, objective research, a great deal of skill, and constant and frequent monitoring and adjusting. And, as all excellent marketers know, this means testing, testing, and more testing. It is our responsibility to test the effectiveness of all legitimate variables such as keywords, ad groups, and ads to learn which ones perform optimally. Over time, we will get rid of any elements that aren’t working well and retain only the ones that are.

• It Takes Time to Obtain Valid Data: It is unwise to alter any element within a campaign until there is enough information to make an informed decision. Therefore, we will not make a decision to delete or pause any of Your Company ads, keyword phrases, or ad groups until we’re confident that our results can be “universalized.” What does this mean? Ad groups with lower volume keyword phrases will have run longer than ones with higher volume keywords before they can be safely adjusted.

In other words, patience and tenacity win this game. And while we will do everything in our power to ensure that Your Company Adwords PPC campaign achieves the best possible results as quickly as possible, you can reasonably expect us to be making small and consistent improvements during the first one to three months of your campaign.

(6) Costs and Fees

In addition to our commitment to do whatever it takes to help Your Company achieve their PPC objectives quickly and affordably, we also promise to look after your best interests at all times, act as responsible and wise stewards of your money and resources, and offer you trusted, professional, and solid advise and counsel. And we believe that our payment policies and fees are strong evidence of these pledges.  Therefore, we charge a one-time, “no-surprises” initial research and set-up fee and a very affordable ongoing monthly maintenance fee (with 6-12 month option).

We will never charge you a percentage of your Adwords monthly spend! Rather, you’ll pay for our expertise and your results, and never have to worry that you’ll be pressured into spending one dime more than is necessary.

Our two options:

Option #1:         One-Time Research and Set-Up Fee: $1,100 (paid in full at onset of project)

6-Month Ongoing Monthly Monitoring and Maintenance (Months 2 – 6) –                                      $400/month

Option #2:         One-Time Research and Set-Up Fee: $1,050 (paid in full at onset of project)

12-Month Ongoing Monthly Monitoring and Maintenance (Months 2 – 12) –                                               $300/month

(7) Glossary of Terms

- Click Through Rate: This is a number that indicates the percentage of people who viewed and clicked on an online ad versus the total number of times the ad was displayed.  For example, if an ad had 100 impressions (i.e. it was display 100 times) and 20 people clicked on it, the click through rate would be 20%.

- Conversion Rates: On the Internet, conversion rates indicate the percentages of website visitors who act as requested. This action can take many forms and varies from website-to-website. Examples include: purchasing digital products online; subscribing to online newsletters; downloading free reports, music, audios, videos, or software; registering for email notifications, or just about any activity beyond simple page browsing.

A website’s conversion rate percentages is dependent on many factors, such as its visitors’ assessments of:

• The quality of the products/services offered
• The company’s credibility and trustworthiness
• How well the company fares against competitors
• The value they’ll receive in exchange for their hard-earned money or personal information
• How immediate their needs are for the information offered
• How easy or hard it is to navigate through the site
• Assessment of the company’s value proposition
• The company’s and/or website’s level of professionalism

and more

- Cost-Per-Click: This is the amount of money advertisers pay to Google (or other search engines) whenever someone clicks on the links contained in their PPC ads.

- Impressions: Impressions are the number of times an ad is displayed on any of Google’s search networks.

- Negative Keywords: According to Google, negative keywords “are core components of a successful keyword list. Adding a negative keyword to your ad group or campaign means that your ads won’t show for search queries containing that term. By filtering out unwanted impressions, negative keywords can help you reach the most appropriate prospects, reduce your cost-per-click (CPC), and increase your ROI.”

- Quality Scores: Quality scores are value assessments that Google assigns to individual ads based on a variety of factors such as, the keywords that triggered the ad, maximum bid amounts, and relevant destination urls and landing pages.

Advertisers with high quality scores receive many benefits, such as:

• Higher ad positions within Google search results for applicable keywords and phrases
• Lower costs per click for applicable keywords and phrases
• Greater eligibility for ads to appear on a site and content networks as well as, a greater chance for improved positioning within these competitive listings

- SEM (Search Engine Marketing): A form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.