Fresh Ideas... to Turbo Charge Your Keyword Search Advertising Program This Holiday Season

Message from our CEO:

On behalf of the entire NetElixir team, thank you for taking the time to go through this workbook. We hope the “fresh ideas” presented herein will help you run a more efficient keyword search advertising campaign during the 2009 Holiday season.

This is not meant to be a theoretical handbook but rather a practical workbook. We strongly encourage you to use the charts and performance indicators, applying your actual data, in order to derive maximum performance gains.

Do feel free to write to me at udayan@netelixir.com to let me know if you found this workbook interesting and useful.

Happy Reading and Happy Selling!

Regards,

Udayan BoseCEONetElixir,Inc.

Why Do You Need a Search Advertising Workbook?

• Successful keyword search advertising is “75% execution and 25% strategy.”

• We have tested the concepts presented here on more than 200 retailer campaigns.

• While this is not an exhaustive list, it will be a solid base for getting you off to a good start.

• The beauty of the concepts lies in the fact that they can be used on an “as is” basis.

• The ability to conduct smart, objectives-focused tests is key for optimal search advertising.

• Some control sheets presented here need to be filled out by you on a weekly basis. You will thus be able to capture essential trends.

• We place a lot of emphasis on regular data analysis and extracting usable insights. This workbook is meant to serve that purpose for you.

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The holiday shopping season spans nearly three months, from early October to end of December.

Source: Google Trends Data

Why Do You Need “Fresh SEM Ideas” for Holiday Season 2009?

• All economic indicators point to one of the toughest holiday seasons ever.

• Revenue realized per dollar spent on SEM has come down over the past year.

• Despite the difficult economy, SEM remains a time tested customer acquisition channel.

• Online shopping behavior is likely to be different this holiday season.

• An advertiser can unlock enormous customer acquisition efficiencies by following some or all of the ideas presented here.

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10 Practical Tips to Propel Your Keyword Search

Advertising Results

Build Your Objectives-Investment ScorecardWhy is this important?You will have an overview of investment vs. return on a single sheet. Remember that what you can’t measure, you can’t control.

Reality check: • What is the average CPC ($)? • What is your website’s click to conversion rate (%)? • Are the objectives achievable given the level of investment? • What are the industry benchmarks?

Build Your Objectives-Investment Scorecard

Why is this important?You will have an overview of investment vs. return on a singlesheet. Remember that what you can’t measure, you can’tcontrol.

Objectives Investment

X units of sale Holiday SEM budget, $

Y cost per sale SEM technology, $

Z revenue per sale In-house manpower, $

SEM agency fee, $

Reality check:• What is the average CPC ($)?• What is my website’s click to conversion rate (%) ?• Are the objectives achievable given the level of investment?• What are the industry benchmarks?

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Strategic Keyword Bidding during the HolidaysWhy is this important?During the holiday season, the average cost per keyword click (CPC) jumps by 50-80% for categories like flowers and gifts, apparel, and consumer electronics.

5 essential things to remember in keyword bidding• The bidding strategy should be product category-specific (know the categories on which not to

aggressively bid).• Day-parting tactics help in better utilization of advertising budget.• The days of “vanity bidding” (aiming for the top listing position at any cost) are over.• Value per click is the ultimate measure of bidding efficiency.• A conversion is an outcome of multiple clicks on (often) multiple keywords (it is too simplistic to attribute

a conversion to the last keyword click).

Notes:• Since bidding is a real-time process, manual bid management is often not sufficiently expedient, especially for campaigns with

5,000+ keywords. Bid optimization technologies, such as LXRRetail, use complex algorithms to optimally execute this process.

• The bidding strategy should be influenced by both short term as well as long term SEM objectives. The strategy adopted during the holiday season may not apply during other months.

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Sample Promo-SEM Campaign Calendar

SEM Campaign: Variable Control Chart

Notes:• Analyze outcome against SEM objectives.• Aggregate learning and use for future promotions.

Sample Promo-SEM Campaign Calendar

Nov. 26 – Dec. 2,2009

Dec. 5 – Dec. 9,2009

Dec.18 – Dec. 22,2009

Description ofPromotion & TargetProduct/CustomerSegment

SEM Budget ($)

SEM Objectives

SEM Campaign: Variable Control Chart

Variable Plan Measurable Outcome

Unique Campaigns

Targeted Keywords

Targeted Ad Creatives

Targeted Landing Pages

Notes:• Analyze Outcome against SEM Objectives• Aggregate learning and use for future promotions

Sample Promo-SEM Campaign Calendar

Nov. 26 – Dec. 2,2009

Dec. 5 – Dec. 9,2009

Dec.18 – Dec. 22,2009

Description ofPromotion & TargetProduct/CustomerSegment

SEM Budget ($)

SEM Objectives

SEM Campaign: Variable Control Chart

Variable Plan Measurable Outcome

Unique Campaigns

Targeted Keywords

Targeted Ad Creatives

Targeted Landing Pages

Notes:• Analyze Outcome against SEM Objectives• Aggregate learning and use for future promotions

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For reading the remaining 8 tips, Download a free copy of the workbook

from:http://netelixir.com/semfreshideas.html