Eric Wan currently works for ResultMedia based in Melbourne. ResultMedia is a digital communications specialist, who specialize in Internet Marketing, Email Marketing, SEO, and SEM.
Eric first started out as an IT Business Analyst, which involved gathering business requirements and figuring out business processes, but has also managed to incorporated SEO and SEM in his field of expertise. Eric Wan is an accredited Google Adwords Professional (GAP).
My questions are in bold, and Eric's answers are below.
How long have you been using PPC?
I have been working in the field of Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing for around 2 years. All of which included exposure to PPC.
What PPC networks do you use?
I work in Australia, and research has shown that Google is the number one PPC network, so my company uses that exclusively. Planning to move on to Yahoo! at a later date.
Have you ever used any of the second tier networks like Miva or
7Search?
I would like to however, those two are really bid in the US, but not down under.
What is the max you have spent on a keyword? Do you mind disclosing that keyword?
The max I?ve spent on a keyword has been just under $7.00, this was at the request of the client who wanted to be at the number one spot. Unfortunately I can?t tell you that keyword.
What is your monthly PPC budget?
Depends on the client, I manage a score of PPC campaigns. Ranging from the tens of thousands to a few hundred dollars.
How much of the budget do you spend on average?
Due to the global popularity of Google we tend to use up daily or monthly budgets.
What ROI do you have for PPC?
Well I really can't tell you that, like I said in previous questions, we manage PPC campaigns for clients. Some clients don't have an ROI, they use PPC purely as a means to advertise, give out free trials, or gather potential customer data. Others on the other hand are e-commerce sites which sell goods online and all I can say it is working for them.
Do you use any bid management software?
Currently at my company we are in the process of trialing a broad range of bid management software; so far we regret that most of them are not very useful. The best of the bunch only provides us with a way to update our bids, ads, keywords etc. However, we can do that for free via the interface that the advertising network has provided already. Some bid management software have an automated bidding or monitoring system where you can setup strategies, for example:
Keep bids in line with competitors
Finding bid gaps
Adjusting bids to fit ROI
The only bid management software that has been of great value and also a huge time saver for me is Google Adwords Editor (Windows 2000/XP only, sorry Mac users!). First of all its FREE, which is synonymous with other Google product such as Google Sketch Up, Toolbar, and the Office Incarnations of Word and Excel.
The Google Adwords Editor is an alternative to the standard Adwords Interface. It allows you to download you entire Adwords campaigns, and edit them even offline. Once you finish editing your changes you can simply post the changes back up when you do get back online.
Some of the time saving features include copying ad groups or keywords, and pasting them into another campaign. Quick navigation back and forth different campaigns. And the ability to see what changes have been made since the last update.
Now for the downside, many people have complained that the interface is very complicated and not very user friendly. I agree to a certain extent however, I think that the normal Google Adwords interface is just as bad. My main problem with the Adwords Editor is the fact it is still in BETA, and crashes from time to time.
How long have you been using PPC?
I have been working in the field of Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing for around 2 years. All of which included exposure to PPC.
What PPC networks do you use?
I work in Australia, and research has shown that Google is the number one PPC network, so my company uses that exclusively. Planning to move on to Yahoo! at a later date.
Have you ever used any of the second tier networks like Miva or
7search?
I would like to however, those two are really bid in the US, but not down under.
What is the max you have spent on a keyword? Do you mind disclosing that keyword?
The max I've spent on a keyword has been just under $7.00, this was at the request of the client who wanted to be at the number one spot. Unfortunately I can't tell you that keyword.
Read Part 2 of this interview...
