COMING IN AUGUST…

Want to know where the REAL opportunities in the content network are hiding? The places where you have the most power and the most control over who sees your ads? Want to know how those $50K and $100K a month accounts are tapping into the highest quality, most targeted traffic in AdWords?

The SECRET is with Placement Targeting!

Managed placements is one of the most popular methods for utilizing the Google AdWords Display Network because it gives you the MOST control over bidding and where your ads are shown.

Finding Placements will explore over a dozen different strategies and tools to help you locate the most targeted and profitable placements…and fast.

Stay tuned for more information and make sure you are opted into the free newsletter, The Content Network Pulse, for more information.

These are some of my FAVORITE  content network and PPC books!

Google has been making so many changes so quickly over the last 5 months that I can hardly keep up! That’s great news because it means new features and reporting in the content network (oops…I mean display network).

I wanted to give you the heads up that on Monday I will be sending out a survey for Content Network Insider so keep an eye out for that email (or get a jump start here) . It will offer you the opportunity for a FREE Content Network Insider trial so that you can keep getting emails like this one that keep you up to speed on what’s going on in the world of contextual advertising along with on demand training calls with me and other experts on topics like Facebook, Video advertising and so much more.

Here’s Google’s Announcement:

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/06/introducing-google-display-network.html

Introducing the Google Display Network
Friday, June 18, 2010 | 9:45 AM
Labels: Announcements, Display Ads, Display Network, YouTube

Over the past year, we’ve been focused on investing in display advertising, and we’ve seen great momentum from the increasing number of you running display campaigns with Google. We’ve rolled out new features and targeting options and more precise measurement tools. To provide more places for you to run display ads, we’ve added more publisher sites (through Google AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange) to our ad network of over one million sites. Meanwhile, many of you have continued to run ads on YouTube and our own properties. In an effort to make our display media offerings clearer to advertisers like you and agencies, we’re creating a new umbrella name for all these properties, the Google Display Network.

The Google Display Network will comprise all of the sites (apart from search sites), where you can buy ads through Google, including YouTube, Google properties such as Google Finance, Gmail, Google Maps, Blogger as well as over one million Web, video, gaming, and mobile display partners (our display partners include all of our AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange partner sites that allow text and/or display ads). The Google Display Network offers all ad formats – text, image, rich media, and video ads – enabling you to unleash your creativity and engage potential customers across the Web.

You can run ads on the Google Display Network the same way you always have. Either place bids through AdWords or make reservations on YouTube and Google Finance with the help of a Google account team.

In the upcoming weeks, you’ll see a change in the AdWords interface reflecting this new term, and you’ll see Google Display Network where you might have seen Google Content Network mentioned. We’ve also launched a new website showcasing the sites and benefits available to you on the Google Display Network.

We’re working hard to offer the best display advertising solutions and we look forward to introducing new features on the Google Display Network that help you reach your advertising goals.

If you’d like information from your AdWords account streamed to your mobile phone, it’s now easy to do: Just direct your Android, iPhone, or Palm Pre to:

http://adwords.google.com/dashboard/Dashboard

(You have to be logged in to your AdWords account first.)

You can customize the information reports from your desktop computer first, and get the exact information you want sent to your phone – alerts, stats and bids.

Google has more information on this at

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/03/adwords-for-mobile-check-in-quickly.html

***Mobile is heating up and the opportunities to advertise to real buyers on their mobile phones are growing exponentially.*** This will be a major part of Content Network Boot Camp which starts Wednesday April 15:

http://www.contentnetworkbootcamps.com

Don’t miss out.

Shelley Ellis

What if I could give you a visual map of the Google content network? A beautifully done, visual perspective of how categorization works on the content network. Trust me, you’ve never seen the Google content network like this!

Well…I’m GIVING mindmaps of the Google content network away!

The Advanced Content Network Boot Camp kicks off Wednesday, April 14th at 9AM. As of noon on Friday, there were 18 spots left…there are less than that now. One of the reasons the course is filling up is because we have offered the mindmap as a bonus to anyone who signs up for the Advanced Boot Camp. We’ll close the doors to the live training once those 18 spots are filled.

So hurry…sign up for the Advanced course and lay claim to your Google content network mindmap AND put yourself in the top 1% of all advertisers on Google’s Content Network.

http://www.ContentNetworkBootcamps.com

Looking forward to next week!

Shelley Ellis

I was reading an article this morning about 23 amazing ad fails and it really bothered me that so many companies still don’t know how to avoid “most” of the possible embarrassing ad situations on the content network.

The content network has a number of ways for you to control where your ads are shown or not shown. Before you turn your content network campaigns on, you should walk through these steps to minimize awkward ad placements. After you turn your campaigns on, you should monitor your placement performance reports to look for potentially reputation damaging sites.

Step #1. Set up standard category exclusions.

• Log into your AdWords account
• In your Campaigns Tab, highlight one of your content network campaigns
• Go to your Networks Tab
• Scroll down and click on Exclusions
• Under Campaign level, click Add Exclusions
• Select Exclude Category
• For reputation management, you may choose to exclude standard categories like gross and bizarre, sexually oriented and death and tragedy

Step #2. Include negative keywords.

• Log into your AdWords account
• In your Campaigns Tab, highlight one of your content network campaigns
• Go to your Keywords Tab
• Scroll down and click on Negative Keywords
• Reputation management keywords are probably appropriate at the campaign level so under Campaign Level, click add, add your negatives and save
• There are obvious negative words you would always want to use such as “scam, death, kill, murder, etc.”
• Depending on your industry, you may want to add additional keywords. For instance, an airline might use negatives for words like “crash, burn, attack, bomb”, etc.

Step #3. Exclude specific sites or even pages of a site where you don’t want your ads to show.

• Log into your AdWords account
• In your Campaigns Tab, highlight one of your content network campaigns
• Go to your Networks Tab
• Scroll down and click on Exclusions
• Under Campaign level, click Add Exclusions
• Select Exclude Placement
• You can either exclude sites you are already familiar with and don’t want your ads to show on or you can use your placement performance report to exclude sites off the report after your campaigns have been running.

For daily tips and strategies on Content Networks, AdWords and Internet Marketing, join my Facebook Fan Page.

To your success!

~Shelley

PS I posted several videos to my YouTube channel over the last couple of weeks. In case you missed them:

* Finding Placements Using an AdSense Directory (Searchforecast.org)
* Bidding on Keyword Themes in the Content Network
* Below the Fold – Step by Step

Google just announced a new option for content network advertisers called “below the fold”. If you want to keep your ads above the fold, this new option allows you to “opt out” of “below the fold” ad distribution on the AdWords content network for both content targeting and placement targeting. I walk you step by step through how to turn this option on or off. Who needs this? Definitely anyone doing branding or CPM campaigns but any aggressive campaign might want to use this new option.

One of the most commonly asked questions about optimizing content campaigns is “what is a good click through rate?” The short answer…well…it depends. Your click  through rate is going to vary based on:

• your account structure (keyword themed or placement targeted)
• the types of sites you are targeting (general or targeted, top domain or specific pages)
• the ad formats that you are using (text, image, video, mobile)

You really shouldn’t grade your account, campaign, AdGroup or even your ad copy based on average click through rates. If you run a placement report, you will find that click through rates vary campaign to campaign, AdGroup to AdGroup, placement to placement and ad to ad.

If your CTR isn’t what you expected or would like, dig deeper and analyze the individual sites, the pages your ads are showing on and the ad format and copy. Some general sites are just going to get lower CTR’s by nature and some ads may perform better on some sites but terrible on others.

For higher traffic and general topic sites, try a more generic ad and landing page and a softer call to action (like a free trial or report). As you get more specific with your targeting, use different landing pages and ad copy for the different audiences. Example: if you are targeting CEO’s with placement targeting, the ad copy and landing pages should be different from the placements, landing pages and ads that target merchandise buyers.

To evaluate your click through rate on the content network, use your networks tab to look at the details for your automatic and/or managed placements or better yet, run placement reports so that you are looking at all the variables for each AdGroup and ad.

For more information on Content Network strategies stay tuned to my YouTube channel, blog or you can still sign up for the Content Network Boot Camp.

A LOT has happened in the content and placement targeting space since my last email blasts.  I promised I would kick off a fresh new newsletter, blog and YouTube channel in 2010 so this newsletter is the first of many to come. *Preview* – I’m working on a video kick off where I show off my other ninja skills for walking on my hands!

Live Online Coaching Series:

Want to know how to save money and be more efficient at optimizing your Contextual Advertising? Next Wednesday, I will be kicking off an Intermediate Content Network Boot Camp with Perry Marshall. It will be four weeks of live coaching in a webinar format with 24/7 access to recorded material and lots of bonuses. The live beginner course sold out quickly and this course is over half way sold out.

AdWords Masters Summit – Maui – March 1-3, 2010

If you want to combine a Maui vacation with three days with some of the top Internet marketing speakers, trainers, coaches and gurus in the country…come with me to the AdWords Masters Summit in Maui, March 2010. I will be speaking along with Perry Marshall, Bryan Todd, Glenn Livingston (Rocket Clicks), Richard Stokes (AdGooroo.com), Amit Mehta (PPC Classroom), Jonathan Mizel (Traffic Evolution) and MORE.

Contextual Advertising Basics – Radio Interview

Want to know more about content and placement targeting? I got the opportunity to discuss the basics of contextual advertising with Ed Frazier and Lisa Mckibben on the “Everything Internet” show on CNN 1190.

Radio Recording
“Everything Internet” Show Info:

That wraps up the first edition for 2010. Future newsletters will cover a variety of contextual advertising topics:

* Beginner to advanced strategies for everything from:

• developing keyword themes
• setting up placement targeting
• analyzing placement reports
• strategies specifically for image, video and mobile ads

* Information and reviews on other content networks (beyond Google AdWords)
* Information and reviews on some of the great tools and services to help you kick off, expand, optimize and manage your content and placement targeted accounts
* Information on opportunities for conferences and trainings on contextual advertising
* Where to find free tools, blogs, tweets, videos and more to help you learn more about content network strategies.
* YouTube and mobile strategies will also be coming soon

If you have specific questions or topics about contextual advertising that you would like to see covered in the future…just drop me an email.

~Shelley Ellis