PPC Management Software Provider Acquisio Joins Google Preferred AdWords API Pricing Program

Acquisio SEARCH Removes API Fees for Clients, Reducing Costs of Paid Search Management

Montreal, Canada (PRWEB) July 23, 2010 – Agencies looking for a way to cut costs associated with their clients’ pay-per-click (PPC) advertising are applauding Google’s most recent addition to its Preferred AdWords API Pricing program. Pay-per-click management software creator Acquisio announced today that it has accepted Google’s invitation to join the Preferred Pricing program. Preferred pricing allows Acquisio’s clients to receive free use of the AdWords API based on the amount of AdWords spend they manage….

Tax Season Isn’t Over

At least for online marketers engaged in PPC efforts.

They say great minds think alike. So it was no surprise last week when Andrew Goodman and Bryan Eisenberg managed to write nearly identical columns about the Google AdWords “tax”.

So what the heck is this tax and why do we have to pay it?

Andrew calls it the tourist tax, Bryan calls it the simplicity tax. Names aside, all it boils down to is the price you pay for being in a hurry, taking shortcuts, or not asking the “locals.”

Very often, we are lured in by the fact that we can starts showing our ads to the online world in as little as 10 minutes. Pick a bunch of keywords, decide what you want to pay for them, write some ads, and you’re all set. Right? Wrong!

You can read Andrew’s column here and Bryan’s column here. But what I really want you to do today is answer the following:

3 questions to make sure you are not getting taxed


1. Did you need to opt out?

Your AdWords campaigns are opted into the entire Google Network by default. This includes Google search, search partners, and the Display Network. If you’re not optimized for the entire network, running along with the default settings will only hurt you.

2. Did you create keyword groups?

Because of the way this part of the process is set up, people end up creating keyword groups instead of ad groups. You almost have to work this backwards. Instead of creating a list of keywords then grouping them, create themes for your ads, then come up with keywords that fit nice and tight. Do that and you’ll have highly targeted ads with decent CTRs and Quality Scores.

3. Did you bid lazy?

Ad group max CPC bids apply by default if you don’t specify otherwise. Start off by defining what your goals are. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Clicks –> use CPC
  • Visibility & awareness –> use CPM on Display
  • Conversions –> use CPA

It’s perfectly fine to start off in automatic mode until you understand and assign different values to your keywords and ad groups. Switch to manual mode when you’re ready, or go semi-automatic with the bid simulator to see the possible effects of adjusting your bids.

Now What?

Those were just a few of many possible reasons someone can get penalized in AdWords. Make sure you go back into your account and make any necessary adjustments. The last thing we want is to hire PPC Accountants to handle our AdWords taxes.

SES San Francisco- Expert Recommended Sessions

It’s that time of the month. You know, the one where you’re looking at the agenda for SES San Francisco and deciding which sessions to go to.

So instead of telling you where I’m going to be, I thought you’d like to know where some of the industry experts will be spending their time. So here’s what they had to say:

Bryan Eisenberg, SES Advisory Board and NYTimes Bestselling Author

There are many great sessions that are not to be missed at SES San Francisco this year, but the one I won’t miss no matter what, is the keynote on the second day by BJ Fogg. BJ and I go back many years as he was one of the only people who was talking about Persuasion and technology in the academic world when I started teaching people about conversion. He is an amazing teacher, as his students at Stanford will testify to and an engaging presenter. Hopefully, I did my little bit to persuade you to get up early on the second day and to not miss his session.

Marty Weintraub, President, aimClear

SEO Through Blogs & Feeds promises to be a burner. I won’t miss that one. SES has been running this session for years…way before blogs and feeds were sexy. Now it’s a must attend session for any marketer. Dude, now Internet, from shopping to Facebook, is driven by the feed concept. Sally Falkow, President, PRESSfeed&  Lee Odden, SES Advisory Board & CEO, TopRank Online Marketing are among my favorite speakers.  They’re venerable and accomplished marketers. To my mind, Lee helped write the book on optimizing feeds as an ethic and analogy for every channel.

Of course I’m partial to the panel I have the pleasure of participating on,Deep Dive Into Analytics. I’m going to discuss single segment analytics, where we learn to focus the entire power of GoogleAnalytics solely on conversion segments for screaming, actionable and easy to digest insights. Actually the technique works in nearly any analytic environment which offers custom segments and the ability to toggle segments on and off.

This will be my first time to the podium with Moderator Bryan Eisenberg, SES Advisory Board and NYTimes Bestselling Author. Matthew Bailey, SES Advisory Board & President, Site Logic Marketing always combines salient technical how-to data with a happy presence. I’ve heard that Tami Dalley, Director, User Experience Optimization, ROI Labs has immediately useful analytics tips and rationale.

Marc Poirier, CMO & Co-Founder, Acquisio

First of all I still haven’t seen Bryan Eisenberg deliver his famous “21 Secrets to Top Converting Websites“ - that’s an obvious “can’t-miss” session in my agenda.

[editor's note: I've seen 21 Secrets about 7 times already. Inside sources tell me that Bryan has added some new stuff to it since the last SES, so I'm not missing this one either]

Deep Dive Into Analytics: When Bounce Rate No Longer Floats Your Boat - I’ll be extra curious to see what new tricks this panel will uncover, analytics being one of my long-time loves, listening to an all-star cast of internet marketing gurus such as this one is guaranteed to make my day.

Of course I also have to attend the Search: Where to Next? session – for obvious reasons! :)

Jonathan Allen, Director, Search Engine Watch

I will be co-ordinating the new track called SEW Labs so probably won’t get a chance to go to many sessions. That said I am extremely interested in what is going to be discussed in three new sessions for SES SF as they are right on the bleeding edge of what is going on in the industry.

Scaling SEO is a must for experienced search marketers and CMOs working on large brands as some really sweet technologies are coming out of stealth mode. These platforms are geared towards more accurately attributing ROI to key tasks within the daily SEO workload and promise to make it easier to educate the C-suite on how search engines and social media really impact the business.

Real-time Storytelling also sounds interesting as many media moguls are teaming up with tech companies to look at ways to curate social content in a way that provides context and relevance to readers. To my mind it’s a completely new perspective on the role of news organizations, who traditionally have focused on their own voice’, yet are now looking at how they can elevate all the voices of their readers. It's another example of how the internet and web technology is transforming even the most monolithic industries.

Finally, I would also strongly recommend the Competitive Research session. Breaking down competitor strengths and weaknesses has always been my favorite task on any search marketing project because, personally speaking, it's where I have always discovered some killer' tactics. However, being objective about your own performance against competitors is mentally demanding stuff (sometimes it really can be panic inducing!) and occasionally you need contact with a mentor who can help you maintain a sense of perspective. Luckily, SEW contributor Eli Goodman from ComScore, is speaking at this session and his presentation style is usually candid, often including case studies, and always full of ideas and suggestions on how to understand competitive data and take action.

PPC Management Software Provider Acquisio Expands International Operations

Acquisio Opens Paris Office, Hires EMEA Account Manager and Announces Baidu Integration

Montreal, Canada (PRWEB) July 20, 2010

Earlier today, pay-per-click management software creators Acquisio announced additional steps that it is taking to support its international growth.  The company announced that it has opened a new satellite office in Paris, hired a new EMEA Account Director, and that its flagship product Acquisio SEARCH now features integration with the Baidu search engine….

Google AdWords Modified Broad Match Keyword Tool

Google AdWords has just released the Modified Broad Match to the rest of the world. After a successful test in Canada and the UK, they decided to unleash this great new feature to all advertisers. However, implementing this would require a lot of time in Excel, so we put together a quick and dirty little tool to help you get started with modified broad match keywords today.

This simple modified broad match keyword generator will add a + sign in front of each “word” which comprise your keywords, or in front of those specific keywords you indicate. You can then add these new keywords to your campaigns using the adwords editor, the Acquisio Editor or the standard Google AdWords interface. Enjoy, and don’t hesitate to tell us if we can make any useful changes to the tool. We’re listening :-)