Improve your ads to capture more customers

Your keywords determine when your ad shows to potential customers, but it's the content of your ads that determines if users will actually click and visit your website. So we thought we'd share this short video with some best practices for creating winning ad text. You will see ideas for what you can test when writing your ads, which will help you to differentiate your business from the crowd and drive even more potential customers to your website.

(View video)

Did you like the video? We'd love to hear your feedback. Let us know. For more information, visit our entry on ad text optimization in the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Some Upcoming Events for Beginners and Experts

Are you ready to get serious about Google Analytics and/or Website Optimizer and looking for some hands on training to take you to new levels? Have you seen a Google Analytics educational video and thought, "I'd love to talk about this stuff in person?" Do you find yourself logging into your Google Analytics or Website Optimizer account more often and having specific questions? Are you itching to improve your marketing and web design ROI?

Yes? Well then, check out Seminars for Success, going back to Los Angeles and Chicago due to popular demand and the fact that you can never visit these 2 cities often enough!

Seminars for Success are day-long seminars designed to help you improve your online marketing and get the most out of Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer. We've selected industry professionals from our Authorized Consultant network to teach these seminars in cities around the U.S. There are both beginner and advanced seminars. Here are the dates of the upcoming seminars:

• Google Analytics – Introduction & User Training:
  Wednesday, July 29 - Los Angeles
  Wednesday, September 16 - Chicago
  
  
• Google Analytics – Advanced Technical Implementation:
  Thursday, July 30 - Los Angeles
  Thursday, September 17 - Chicago
  
  
• Landing Page Testing with Google Website Optimizer:
  Friday, July 31 Los Angeles only!

For more information on the content of the seminars and to register, visit the Los Angeles seminars site or the Chicago seminars site.


In your spare time, do you think about new advanced segments to create? Do you know who said, "Do Something Surprising: Don’t Puke Data Out"? Have you ever attempted multi-campaign attribution or social media marketing?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then you might be a web analytics power user, and should attend the X Change conference at the St. Regis in San Francisco this September. Now in its third year, the conference bills itself as a gathering for "experts and those practitioners who are serious about digital measurement." With sessions like "Measuring the New Retail Model: Social Commerce" and "Segmenting and Targeting Visitors: Advanced Tips and Tricks" we think it will be fun and educational - a worthwhile three days. You'll leave with some new techniques and honed skills to be sure. For the first time this year, they're offering "Think Tank" breakout sessions where you'll get hands on training in some of the latest and most practical techniques.

Use the discount code "WAD15" for 15% off when you register and make sure to say hi to our own Brett Crosby after he participates in the "Four Founders" keynote to open the conference. Brett and a few other founders of web analytics companies will be discussing the evolution of the digital measurement industry.


Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Back To Basics: Comparing Days Of The Week

You probably already know that you can quickly compare two date ranges against each other simply by clicking Compare to Past. So, in the screenshot below, clicking Compare to Past will allow me to compare the current period (Mar 16 - Apr 15) with the previous period (May 16 - May 15).

Once I click Apply, I'll see the graph below. The problem, though, is that this graph is not very useful to me as a comparison tool because the days of the week don't line up.

The first day of the current period (March 16) is a Monday, so I'll use the date slider to move the first day of the previous period back to Feb 9, also a Monday. Just click the Timeline tab to see the date slider and drag the previous period (in green) to the left, one day at a time. The date will change in the text box as you drag the slider. Then, click Apply.

Once I've lined up my days, I can compare weekdays to weekdays, and weekends to weekends. For example, I can see that, except for the first Wednesday, I received more traffic on all of the Wednesdays in the previous period.

Next time you use Compare to Past, try using the date slider to adjust your previous time period. It's possible that you'll uncover new insights about your day to day traffic.


Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

New Interface Thursday: Beta Test the Opportunities Tab

How do I get better results from my campaigns? It's a simple question that can often be surprisingly difficult to answer. Where should I focus my efforts? On ad text? Budget? Keywords or bids? Which campaign has the greatest potential for improvement? And what are the expected results?

Today we're introducing the Opportunities tab, a beta feature in the new AdWords interface built to help you answer these questions. The Opportunities tab is a central hub you can use to browse and apply customized optimization ideas to your account. We're designing the new tab both to save you time when optimizing your campaigns and to give you more insight into ways you can capture additional cost-effective traffic.

(click to view larger image)

Initially, the Opportunities tab will focus on budget and keyword ideas for your campaigns and ad groups, but in the coming months we'll be expanding the set of available features. If you've used our Campaign Optimizer tool, you're already familiar with some of the types of customized ideas that will be listed on the new tab. But unlike Campaign Optimizer, the Opportunities tab lets you browse ideas across campaigns and ad groups, helping you find potential areas of improvement and easily prioritize the changes you make to your account.

The Opportunities tab will replace the Tools tab in the new AdWords interface. However, all existing AdWords tools will still be available, and you can find the current Tools page within the new tab.

Today we're releasing the Opportunities tab to a small number of U.S. English advertisers, and we look forward to expanding the feature to additional countries and languages in the coming weeks. If you're a U.S. English advertiser and would like to be considered for the beta, please submit your account information on our beta sign-up page.

Interested in learning more about other features in the new AdWords interface? Attend one of our upcoming free webinars for an in-depth walkthrough. We just added two new dates: July 29th and August 5th. You can sign up at the new interface webinars page.

Posted by Austin Rachlin, Inside AdWords crew

Shout out to Google Reader

Every now and then we like to give a shout out to another Google product and today, as avid bloggers, we wanted to mention Google Reader which allows you to subscribe to and follow any blog or website, and then read them all in one place via a table of contents on the left. It's my first stop when I open my browser in the morning, and probably where I spend the most time online. You are your own publishing house and your own news aggregator. There's also some other handy features, such as a task and notes list, as well as a way to browse other users' subscriptions, share certain content with different groups, see a trends graph on what you've been reading the most, and more.

But what we wanted to share is the translate feature. We recently posted about Google Analytics and conversion-related blogs in other languages, including Spanish, German, French, Japanese and even one focused on the UK market. A colleague brought the following to our attention: with Google Reader, you can read all of these blogs by using a translate feature to read them in your own language with the click of a button. So, if you're reading these words right now, and your first language is not English, go into Google Reader and subscribe to this blog and then translate. Here's how you do it: 1. Click and read a subscription. 2. Click the "Feed Settings" drop down. 3. Choose "Translate into my language."

Then Reader will translate the content into the language you have specified under your Google Account "Settings" page. For example, if Spanish was the language in my Settings and I chose to translate the blog, here's how it would look:


Cool, huh? Hope this was helpful for all you avid readers out there who can't get enough of analytics in just one language.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

6 Ways to Pinch Pennies and Grow

Don't let a tight budget stall your growth.

As marketing professionals, you're being expected - ney, demanded - to do more with less. The good news is that it simply takes some creativity ... and who has more creativity than us marketers?

Here are 6 ideas (some creative, some not) to help jump start the ol' mellon and get those neurons firing. Please, please, please feel free to add more by commenting to this blog.

6 Penny Pinching Ideas:

1. Create a referral program

OK, it's nothing new, but your existing customers can be your best asset. And let's face it, no matter how big you are - you have a lot of customers. It can be as easy (and cheap) as printing small, pocket-sized cards offering $5-$25 for the customer and their referred friend. Make sure you offer an incentive to both.

I've had success printing a brochure-sized piece with 4 business card sized offers of $10 to each - saying: Earn up to $40 by spreading the joy. Quarterly, I'd include it in newsletter mailings to all customers and watch the spike in new accounts.

The keys: Keep it easy, Keep it trackable, Make it fun.

2. Internal promotions

Don't want to incentivize your customers? Use your NEXT best asset - your staff. Make a game of which branch can recruit the most new customers. Offering incentives to a smaller group of people (or teams) will be easier on the budget.

3. Get out of the office

You should, of course, participate in the local Chambers - but how many bank/CU employees are out on your behalf? At a minimum, all senior management and board should be expected to be active in the community and promote the institution.  

The key: From church elder, to scout leader, to chamber committee member, there are plenty of opportunities to contribute - just make sure that promoting the bank/CU (elegantly) is also being done.

4. Bank@Work

Many credit unions have already mastered this - but, with a community charter focus and limited resources,  many more have forgotten this art.

Whether you call them SEGs or Commercial Clients, you have customers who have employees. And those employees are prospects. Find ways to communicate with them.

The key: Make sure your commercial staff teams up with your retail staff and vice versa.

5. PR - or "Image Management"

Your institution has a wealth of interesting stories that are likely overlooked because, since you see it everyday, you don't look at them as newsworthy. I'll bet your local news outlets (hungering for good news - especially from local financial institutions) would disagree.

• You mean banks ARE lending?!?!: Let them know how much you've lent to date. Even if it seems small by your standards, to "Tammy the teacher," it will seem huge.
• Case studies: Have you saved a family from foreclosure? Helped a kid go to college? Helped a student afford a trip overseas? Your staff do amazing things for customers everyday - it's the beauty of their job. Collect and share those stories.
• Share your expertise: Few understand finances better than bankers (at least lets hope so!). Be the local resource for sound financial guidance. In this economy, you may be able to work out a deal to author an ongoing "Smart Finances" section - aim high!

6. Fish where the fish are

Focus your budget on your existing customers, there are fewer hurdles - so it's the smart spend.

• Focus on customers with only 2 or 3 products: Single service customers are likely single service for a reason - build the relationship with those that have multiple, but few products.
• Look at depositors with no loans - especially mortgages. Don't reprice existing, but try to get customers with other institutions mortgages to refinance with you.
• What about depositors with no checking: Get them to view you as their primary financial institution.
• What unused HELOC balances are out there?  Go get 'em.

For at least the next six months or so, we will have to work a little harder to maximize our budgets. You don't necessarily have to spend a lot to gain a lot - you just need to be creative, utilize your entire staff and have fun.

Take care,

Eric

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) - Teach People to Fish

What works better, a centralized web analytics team with deep technical knowledge, or non-expert users spread throughout an organization? This was the question faced by Amy Sample when she joined PBS Interactive as web analytics director in the fall of 2007. Amy shared her story with us in response to our call to share your web analytics story.

Implementation

PBS Interactive helps individual PBS producers and local PBS stations create and promote microsites for programming like NOVA, American Masters, and Sid the Science Kid. Amy had the difficult task of helping these managers make educated decisions about how to improve their online show sites.

When Sample came on board, she learned that PBS had standardized on a single analytics tool. This was a good first step, but few at the company were familiar with the tool and the reports it generated were not being used to take action. Producers wanted to know more about how people interacted with microsites for their programs, but they weren't sure what to focus on. At the same time, the analytics group had a hard time keeping up with demands from so many stakeholders. According to Sample "The producers wanted to dig deeper into their site data than a monthly report could provide."

Amy's response was two-fold. First, after consulting with a pilot group of producers and other members of the interactive group, she decided to deploy an installation of Google Analytics. In Sample's words "We chose Google Analytics because we had to deal with a diverse group of needs and very limited resources. We wanted a system where a user with very little training could get insights right away."

Second, Sample worked with LunaMetrics, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, to manage the complex issues PBS faced with cross-domain tracking and a complicated account structure. LunaMetrics also created training materials, hosted an on-site training for PBS staff, and conducted a series of training webinars for producers and local stations.

Applying the Data

As it turns out, despite challenges around getting resources assigned to tag pages and working out the right account structure, deploying Analytics was actually the easy part. In Sample's experience, the more challenging problem came in spreading knowledge and awareness of Analytics through the organization in a way that lets people take action on the data. "My approach has been to teach people how to fish," Sample explains, "It's been about doing training classes and one-on-one work with key practitioners, creating specific training decks by job function and getting other groups to use Analytics data in their daily activities."

Google Analytics has been a key facilitator in the transformation of PBS online. Stakeholders are no longer focused on monthly reports. Increasingly, they are using Analytics to inform actual business decisions. Here are some examples highlighted by the PBS team:

• Site Search Tracking - The PBSKIDS.org site has implemented changes as a result of insights gleaned from site search tracking that have increased traffic to the site 30% in the last year.
  
  
  
• Funnel Optimization - The PBSKIDS Island team used funnels to optimize their registration path resulting in a 3x improvement in conversion rate.
• Content Optimization - An analysis of users’ video consumption behavior on PBS.org and PBSKIDS.org led to the development of the PBS Video and PBSKIDS GO! Broadband portals. PBS went even further, basing a full 2008 PBS.org redesign on the data that indicated which content visitors access.
• Advertising Optimization - PBS' marketing group also looks at post-click behavior for their display ad campaigns to zero-in on referring sites that send high-quality traffic. They use this information to optimize successive campaigns.

Long-Term Vision

Sample's long term vision is to extend Analytics to measure engagement with PBS content both on-site and off-site. She also hopes to gauge the impact of online content on TV tune-in and track online donations, while expanding her training efforts to teach producer colleagues how to segment traffic and drill deeper into visitor behavior on their microsites.

The lesson learned is that no matter what analytics tool you're using, a well-planned deployment is only a first step. The hard part is "teaching people to fish," and making analytics data a key component in your organization's everyday business decisions.

Posted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team