To be eligible for this promotion you must meet the following criteria:

• Must currently operate a functioning website. No under construction websites.
• Coupons can only be applied to new Google AdWords accounts (less than 2 weeks old).

To enter the contest simply:

• Leave a comment below (OR)
• ReTweet this post on twitter

Winners will be chosen at random. Good luck!

The contest is now closed. Thank you to all those that participated!

Image courtesy of Kevindooley on Flickr

Free $100 Google AdWords coupons is a post from: Radium
Check out more articles on our Search and Social Media Blog

Rosetta Stone is a leader in proprietary language-learning software. If you’re not familiar with the product, their language software is priced per level per language, i.e., level 1 Spanish. With each language consisting of three levels and each level costing around $200, the software is not cheap. And, needless to say, software with a high price tag will be subject to piracy.

So the question becomes:
Can a person actively searching for an illegal copy of software be convinced to pay for it?

Most companies would probably say no and simply pretend these people don’t exist and hope they go away. But Rosetta Stone doesn’t appear to be ignoring this group and actually is going out of their way to target them.

The above ad is shown on Google AdWords for the search phrases “Rosetta Stone Torrent” and “Rosetta Stone Rapidshare” (Rapidshare is a file upload site that many people use to host large files.).

According to Google keyword data:

Rosetta Stone Torrent:
Global monthly searches = 90,500
Average CPC = $0.05

Rosetta Stone Rapidshare:
Global monthly searches = 22,200
Average CPC = $0.05

So instead of missing 112,700 potential consumers every month, Rosetta Stone places an ad relevant to their search request (possibly instilling a little fear in them) and gives them a chance to purchase the software legally.

I have yet to see other companies employing this method, which is a shame because in most cases the volume of search warrants a response from the company.
Check out the data for Microsoft related keywords.

Office Torrent
Global monthly searches = 368,000
Average CPC = $0.93

Office Keygen 2007
Global monthly searches = 201,000
Average CPC = $0.79

A keygen (an abbreviated form of “key generator”) is a program that will generate valid CD keys for a piece of software.

Why this is important
I know it probably seems a little weird to target people that are actually trying to steal your product. However, consider where they are in the buying cycle.

1. Awareness √
2. Interest √
3. Desire √
4. Action

This person is well aware of who you are, they are very interested in your offering and they are actively searching for a way to take action. Don’t let them get away now!

Why it works
Let’s not forget the facts: downloading software is illegal, it’s time consuming and can lead to viruses and spyware. No, not all of the pirates are going to concede to defeat and buy your software. But, some percentage of them will. Make it easy for them to do so.

Sweeten the deal
The ad below appears when you search for “Rosetta Stone Coupon” and similar variations.

When you click the ad you are taken to a landing page that gives you 10% off. Rosetta Stone is offering this discount because the customer is one step away from a purchase and the company wants to remove all doubt. Everyone likes to get a deal and most people don’t mind paying for something if they see value in it. Why not offer this same incentive to individuals trying to get a free copy of your software.

You’re not rewarding bad behavior, your encouraging good behavior with a reward.

It’s time to start thinking outside the box when it comes to paid search marketing. It’s so much more than a simple direct response. Yarrrgh what ye say matey?

Profiting from Pirates is a post from: Radium
Check out more articles on our Search and Social Media Blog

This is the first post in a series of landing page reviews. Subscribe to our RSS feed to be notified when new landing page reviews are conducted.

Please note: In this review all of the landing pages also happened to be main pages on the website or store website. Landing pages do not always have to be an existing page on your website and many times they are not. However, because the search term used was broad (brand name) a main page is typically well suited as a landing page at least from a content standpoint.

These landing pages were generated on June 2, 2009 by searching for the keyword indicated below on Goolge.com and clicking the company’s sponsored search link.

Company: Nike
Search term: Nike
Headline: Nike Official Store
Ad copy: Find Nike shoes, gear, and online only exclusives at Nike.com.
Landing page: Store.Nike.com – homepage

Company: Reebok
Search term: Reebok
Headline: Reebok Official Site
Ad copy: Get Free Shipping on Orders of $130 & Up. Shop Reebok.com Today!
Landing page: Reebok.com/Shop

Company: Puma
Search term: Puma
Headline: Puma Online Store
Ad copy: Get the Latest PUMA Shoes and Gear at The Official PUMA Online Store!
Actual page on website: Store.Puma.com

Company: Converse
Search term: Converse
Headline: Converse Official Site
Ad copy: Converse.com – Original Cool. American Icon. Join the Movement.
Landing page: Converse.com- homepage

Company: Adidas
Search term: Adidas
Headline: adidas Official Store
Ad copy: Get Free Shipping on adidas Shoes, Apparel & Accessories. Shop Now!
Landing page: Shopadidas.com – homepage

Trends & Takeaways

Sliders and Carousels – With the exception of Adidas, all of the websites feature a prominent slider in the main content section of the landing page. Sliders allow you to present a lot of information in a small, compact area. Visitors of the website can focus their attention on one piece of content at a time but still get the benefit of being presented with multiple content blocks. For companies with a lot of offerings this is a great way to present your products.

Flash – Again with the exception of Adidas, all of the landing pages contained elements of Flash. In some cases the entire homepage was designed in flash and in others just elements of the page (sliders and carousels) used flash. While not always the SEO’s first choice, Flash allows content to be displayed in a very engaging and meaningful way to visitors – a definite plus when trying to get visitors to take an action.

Rollover elements – Nike and Converse provide additional information to products featured on the homepage with subtle rollover elements. In Nike’s case this allows you to select individual products from within a content block. I found this to be a very cool feature as it allowed you to not only select the type of product (Nike Shox) but also a specific pair (men’s black). By providing rollover elements, you offer information to the visitor when they are ready to consumer it (i.e. when they are actually rolling over the image or content block).

No more than 3 clicks – In all cases the featured products were no more than 3 clicks away from purchase, with Nike, Converse and Reebok allowing you to add items to the cart in 2 clicks. 3 clicks may not seem like a lot but consumers have a very short attention span and the easier you make the checkout process the higher your conversion rates will be.

Conclusions

Give visitors the information they need when they need it. Having a lot of content isn’t an excuse for being unorganized. Nike does a great job of presenting a ton of information on their homepage but it never feels overwhelming.

Always be testing. Test your assumptions and optimize your pages based on actual data. What effect does headline A have over headline B? How about product X vs product Z. Continually testing your landing pages will lead to higher conversion rates and increased profitability.

Keep your landing page copy tight. Remember visitors don’t read, they scan. Keep copy on the landing page tight and allow visitors to scan the page for the information they want. In almost all of the landing pages there was only headlines and subheads, no body copy.

If you liked this post, be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed to be notified when new landing page reviews are conducted.

Landing page review – Athletic & lifestyle footwear brands is a post from: Radium
Check out more articles on our Search and Social Media Blog

This subject is widely discussed in the SEO/SEM realm and there are arguments on both sides as to whether or not organic search is beneficial or detrimental to organic search when you have high rankings. We believe a well designed paid search campaign will supplement organic search and can provide an overall lift in net profit. This is of course if it’s done correctly. But the real answer is, no two campaigns are the same and you need to test each campaign to determine the degree of cannibalization you are experiencing.

On the surface, paying for free clicks seems like a dumb thing to do, something that was once free now costs me money. However, the degree to which paid search is stealing sales from organic search isn’t the only metric you need to measure. Below are 6 factors you should consider before pausing your paid search campaign.

- Conversion rate differences
- Average sales price differences
- Cost per click (media spend)
- Conversion attribution
- Lifetime value of a customer
- Competition

1. Conversion rate differences
It’s not uncommon for your organic search traffic to have a different conversion rate than your paid search traffic. In this post conversion rate is defined as the number of visitors that complete an action (sale or contact) compared to the number of visitors that could complete the action (visitors to the site). The reasoning behind the difference is commonly attributed to differences in landing pages visitors reach. With paid search you decide what page to direct a visitor to. Normally this is an optimized page with limited or focused choices for the user. With organic search, the engine decides for you and sometimes it may not be the best suited page for a conversion (see the variations of Nike’s landing page below). The key is to measure the conversion rate of both organic and paid search. If your paid search campaigns have a higher conversion rate you will be able to tolerate a higher percentage of cannibalization.

Nike sponsored landing page

Nike organic landing page

2. Average sales price differences
Similar to conversion rates, you may discover that the average sale price for organic and paid search traffic differs. Again, because you choose what page to direct a visitor to, you also select what products/services to highlight. If paid search has a higher average sales price, you can tolerate a higher cannibalization percentage.

3. Cost per click (media spend)
Often the most likely candidates for cannibalization are product or company name keywords because most websites rank well for these search terms. These keywords are often the All Stars of paid search because they achieve a stellar click through rate (CTR) and generate a lot of sales, although, they may be doing it at the expense of organic search. However, often these keywords are fairly cheap on an individual per click basis. So even if you are paying for some organic traffic, the cost is less than the additional revenue it brings in.

4. Conversion attribution
We often credit the sale to the last source the customer touched; however, an experienced marketer will tell you the customer conversion cycle is not a simple 1 to 1 relationship. Often it takes multiple sources to convert a prospective customer into a sale. If you dig a little bit deeper, you may find that some of your sales come from customers that have clicked on both your organic listing and your sponsored ad. You need to be careful that you don’t attribute the entire sale to one medium when it should be partially attributed to both. If you would like a more detailed analysis of the conversion attribution problem check out SEOptimize for a good write-up on the subject. Thanks to @heygregwood for sending me this article.

5. Lifetime value of a customer
When analyzing your search marketing efforts, consider the lifetime value of the customer not just the initial sale. At Radium, we have numerous clients that generate the bulk of their sales from direct traffic from existing customers. Even if they pay a little more initially to capture the sale, over time the ROI for this lead will increase because the customer purchases additional goods with no (or very little) additional marketing dollars.

6. Competition
Even if you’re the first organic listing for a particular search phrase you might not be the first listing a user sees. There could be sponsored listings, Google shopping results, alternative search suggestions or local search results shown above your organic listing. All of these items are competing for the users’ interest and some percentage of searches will click on these links instead of your ad. If the sponsored link points to a competitors’ website, you may be giving away potential sales. For some organizations, preventing a competitor from capturing a sale is worth the incremental cost.

You may also want to consider the resellers of your product. Many of them probably run sponsored ads. Having a sponsored ad listed among the resellers of your product may cost you more than your organic listing but if the margins are greater for direct sales than the margin you get from resellers, it may be worth the additional cost per click. The example below shows a search for the word “Converse”. Notice that the official website is both the top organic and sponsored listing. Target and Zappos (both resellers) are also listed but the margin from a sale on these sites is probably much lower than for a direct sale.

How to determine cannibalization levels
The most accurate way to determine cannibalization levels is to compare organic search sales with your paid search campaigns turned on and turned off. If you compare two like periods (i.e. no seasonality, promotion or advertisement differences exist) a loss in organic sales can be attributed to paid search cannibalization. Don’t be alarmed if some degree of cannibalization is occurring. If your keywords rank organically in the top 5 positions most likely you’ll experience some level of cannibalization. But keep in mind, the key factor is not the cannibalization percentage itself but your overall net sales. If net sales are higher in the period with paid search turned on, then even with cannibalization you are better off employing both paid and organic search.

Please note when you compare differences in paid and organic search, you should do it at the individual keyword level, not the overall campaign. This will account for keywords differences.

Calculate your break even cannibalization percentage
For whatever reason testing may not be an option for you. If this is the case I suggest you perform a rough calculation to determine the level of cannibalization you can stand before net profit decreases. While this isn’t as good as the actual test, it will give you the degree to which cannibalization will effect your campaigns.

To simplify the process we’ve built an Excel spreadsheet that will compute organic search cannibalization break even percentage by keyword based on your campaign results. To perform the calculation simply download the spreadsheet and follow the instructions. You are free to use, modify and distribute the spreadsheet as you see fit, I just ask that you retweet or share this post if you find it useful.

Download the spreadsheet -> Organic search cannibalization calculation

Is paid search eating your organic sales? is a post from: Radium
Check out more articles on our Search and Social Media Blog