% of savings strategy

[roligan]

I have a new client who spend $50,000 last year and had 20,900 clicks and 312,661 impressions. I am considering offering them a % of savings deal where I guarantee the same number of clicks, using the same keywords at lower cost ($50,000) and where I get 50% of the savings.

The reason being that they have position preferences turned on and for 90% of keywords have position preference 1-3 and for some even 1-2.

I am planning on doing the following
- turn position preferences off ---> more impressions ---> more clicks at lower CPC
- schedule all ads to only run from 3 pm or something like that. The logic being that many people have 'Run ads as fast as possible' turned on so there's more competitions in the morning ---> CPC is higher.

The above should result in more clicks at lower price ---> I can lower the budget and get the same clicks ---> save the client more and I make some too

Of course I can closely monitor my performance against the same period last year. I will always stay 5% over the client's click last year to make sure I don't lose out.

Thoughts?

[AussieWebmaster]

It is worth a try.... but top spot gets thje high impressions... do you see a time array showing them spending the budget early and not being up in afternoon etc?

[roligan]

I'm not sure why top positions would get the most impressions since there are fewer places available.

[AussieWebmaster]

yeah but if you average 1.3 you could just be off the page 30% of the time

[lizcamps]

When you view the stats in the Campaign Summary, make sure you use the pulldown menu to select viewing stats for Google vs. its search partners. For many of my clients, performance differs greatly - for some, it made a lot of sense to turn off distribution to the search partner network (you do this in the Campaign Edit Settings, near to where you turn off the content network). That saved a lot of money by avoiding wasted clicks and impressions.

On the other hand, for some other clients they actually get higher performance on the search partner network (AOL, RoadRunner, Comcast and so on). If that's the case with your client, then make sure that you don't let your ad position drop below 3, or else you will not show up on the search partner network for those keywords/ads. Performance would then drop in that case, if you let the ad position drop.

Just look at the stats split out between google.com vs. search partners and you can easily make the decision which way you want to go. It's just one aspect of campaign management but it could make a difference.

[roligan]

Originally Posted by AussieWebmaster

yeah but if you average 1.3 you could just be off the page 30% of the time

Exactly.

So if I change it to position 2-9 it will get more impressions at a lower CPC.

I might even try and take position preferences off all together. It will certainly lower the CPC and increase impressions. CTR will go down but hopely not as much as impressions are going up.

I have the number from last year so can experiment for a week at a time and once I get it right I can keep the setting for the rest of the year and just keep an eye on it.

Thougths.

[roligan]

Originally Posted by lizcamps

When you view the stats in the Campaign Summary, make sure you use the pulldown menu to select viewing stats for Google vs. its search partners. For many of my clients, performance differs greatly - for some, it made a lot of sense to turn off distribution to the search partner network (you do this in the Campaign Edit Settings, near to where you turn off the content network). That saved a lot of money by avoiding wasted clicks and impressions.

On the other hand, for some other clients they actually get higher performance on the search partner network (AOL, RoadRunner, Comcast and so on). If that's the case with your client, then make sure that you don't let your ad position drop below 3, or else you will not show up on the search partner network for those keywords/ads. Performance would then drop in that case, if you let the ad position drop.

Just look at the stats split out between google.com vs. search partners and you can easily make the decision which way you want to go. It's just one aspect of campaign management but it could make a difference.

For the ones I check the CPV was lower for Search Partners so if I turn it off I will have to make up for the lost clicks at a higher CPC.

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by lizcamps

When you view the stats in the Campaign Summary, make sure you use the pulldown menu to select viewing stats for Google vs. its search partners. For many of my clients, performance differs greatly - for some, it made a lot of sense to turn off distribution to the search partner network (you do this in the Campaign Edit Settings, near to where you turn off the content network). That saved a lot of money by avoiding wasted clicks and impressions.

On the other hand, for some other clients they actually get higher performance on the search partner network (AOL, RoadRunner, Comcast and so on). If that's the case with your client, then make sure that you don't let your ad position drop below 3, or else you will not show up on the search partner network for those keywords/ads. Performance would then drop in that case, if you let the ad position drop.

Just look at the stats split out between google.com vs. search partners and you can easily make the decision which way you want to go. It's just one aspect of campaign management but it could make a difference.

good thoughtful response - hang around a little more

[roligan]

This is the first time. The client has agreed to give me 80% of their savings the first year.

Does anybody have more ideas on what to do to achieve lower CPC?

[lizcamps]

Here's an obvious tip but you probably already thought of it - use negative keywords/phrases to cut out searches for words and phrases that are totally inappropriate or won't convert.

You can use " " and [ ] in combination with - to add negative phrases and negative exact matches as well. Make sure to do these on a campaign-level if appropriate for all campaigns.

A good way to identify such phrases is to use the Keyword Tool and enter your root phrases, hit enter and then eyeball the list of phrase variations - you may find some surprising words that you can weed out using Negatives. For example, I work for a search marketing company whose brand name is related to a certain kind of wood stove and also a particular breed of singing dog. Who knew?

[roligan]

I'm not sure how that strategy is going to lower the CPC yet achieve the same clicks.

Anyway, the 12 months project started today.

I'll keep you posted.

[lizcamps]

It's going to lower your CPC to have negative keywords because your CTR should get higher as you weed out inappropriate words. Higher CTR = higher Quality Score. Higher QS = lower CPC.

Good luck with the project!